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"Beyond organization"

Custom Closet Manufacturer responds to current demands

By Brooke Baldwin Wisdom

One might call Closet City a pioneer in the closet segment. It started 24 years ago – way before the current boom in organization systems.

Today the company’s 21 employees design, manufacture, and install space management solutions for every room in the house from the basement to the attic.

Its state-of-the-art, 22,000 sq. ft. facility is well suited to Closet City’s dual role as local retail dealer and wholesale closet system distributor. A separate 6,000 sq. ft. storage facility, built on their 8-acre tract in Montgomeryville, Penna., provides storage space for pallets awaiting distribution to shops located all along the East Coast.

What are the latest trends concerning closets? High-end features are currently in demand, says Don Unger, Inside Sales Rep at Closet City. Fluted columns, crown molding and granite countertops are becoming the norm. “It’s beyond organization,” he says, “retail clients are going for a showcase.”

Today’s larger houses call for larger closets and all the bells and whistles that come with organization.

Standard reach-in closets that are just used for storage are no longer the norm. “It’s amazing what people put into their closets,” says Unger.

“"A recent client loved her walk-in closet so much, she also turned it into an office and even put a flat screen TV in there.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Closet City also considers “downsizing” a specialty and works with many retiring baby boomers moving to smaller homes and needing to make every square inch count.

Visitors to Closet City’s showroom often bring in their storage space dimensions and ideas, sit down with a consultant, and create a custom closet system right there in the office. Most prefer to set up an appointment for a Closet City consultant to come to their home, take the measurements, and help them assess their organizing needs. Either way, a computer-generated design is then presented along with a proposal. When a deposit is received on an approved design, the client’s installation is then scheduled, and a typical turnaround time is about two weeks.

Closet City’s consultants create their designs with KCDw software and then forward the renderings to the shop foreman. He converts the KCDw cut sheets utilizing in-house, custom designed software that sorts hardware and parts from the components that need to be fabricated. Using QuickCAM and CadCode, the cut sheets are then downloaded directly to a Holzma HPP82 panel saw and Weeke BHC 350 CNC router for production. Labels are printed out for each component part with generated bar codes of machining specifications for the Weeke. Other pertinent information like the client’s job name, sales order number, color request, customer purchase order number, and room location are also included. According to General Manager, Eric Wheary, this bar code information system helps promote project accuracy and easier handling for Closet City’s installers as well as for their wholesale clients sorting a customer’s installation materials.

Closet City offers 24 finishes in ¾” melamine, of which it inventories the six most popular. They also carry three wood species. “We notice differences as to which selections are popular as the seasons change,” says Wheary. “In the winter, warmer, darker colors such as walnut and chocolate peartree seem to sell more. Then conversely in the summer, lighter finishes like ivory sell more. However, cherry sells pretty much throughout the year, as well as white which is our least expensive color. Our minimum retail installation is $550, and the most expensive installation done to date was a $50,000 project that was provided entirely in maple and walnut wood.”

Closets’ challenges

Newer homes with tall ceilings are a common trend and pose a unique problem. “A client who has 12’ ceilings expects storage from floor to ceiling,” says Wheary. “The challenge is designing a storage system to fill that height, meet the client’s needs, be visually appealing, and be structurally sound. We may seem limited by the standard length of materials, yet this is a challenge we handle on an increasing basis.”

Keeping abreast of all the exciting products out there is another challenge. “New organizational devices are coming out daily, and we continually expand our offerings to include those with the most potential to be useful and popular,” Wheary adds. “For example, we have recently added Murphy beds, an ironing board that folds into a drawer, and a new garage storage line to our product offerings. We’re constantly looking for new ideas for staying ahead as it seems like every day a new closet company is opening up.”

Unger says the current housing slowdown has not been an overwhelming problem. “Our sales have slowed down somewhat with our local builders; so at this point, most of our retail installations are remodeling jobs,” he says. “As far as wholesale is concerned, most of our clients are on the East Coast. We would like to expand farther to the West, but expensive shipping costs make it challenging.” Currently, Closet City is outsourcing the transportation of their wholesale materials as the costs are less than if it paid for its own fleet and fuel costs. “I understand the whole industry has slowed down, but we have seen highs as well as lows,” says Unger. “Whatever the state of the economy, we’re doing our best to provide retail and wholesale clients with the most cost-effective and innovative organizational products on the market.”