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Q & A A conversation with Rik and Susie Knopf of Expressions Custom Furniture |
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With more than 15 years in business in the same location, Rik and Susie Knopf have a unique perspective on what it takes to own and manage an independent business in St. Louis. They took a few moments from their day to speak with NETWORK about Expressions and their strong connection to our community. N: Was it Expressions that brought you to St. Louis Rik: In a manner of speaking, yes. We moved from Dallas to Denver in 1978 to open our own furniture store. In 1982 we were at a furniture market and met Ronna Griest, the co-founder of Expressions. We were instantly impressed by the Expressions business model and her design sense. Within six months Expressions was our biggest supplier, and we were its best customer. Two years later we sold our company to Expressions, and for the next three years we helped the franchise operations grow to 15 or 16 stores. In 1987 we moved to New Orleans to open our own Expressions franchise, but New Orleans is a very parochial, exclusionary place unless your family has lived there for more than 100 years. We knew no one, and it was very difficult to make friends. Susie was especially miserable, so right away we started looking for another location. We had been impressed with St. Louis after visiting Susie’s brother here a few times, so we began scouting for a good retail location. Our location at the corner of Clayton Road and Lindbergh Boulevard was only the first or second we were shown.We knew it was perfect, so we moved in May, and the store opened in July of 1988. N: All of that moving must have been tough on your family. Susie: (Laughing) Well, our son was not thrilled when we moved to New Orleans, because he was a senior at Tulane at that time, and he was sure we would crimp his style. As it turned out, he and his friends got a lot of home-cooked meals out of the deal. It was our daughter, though, who had it the hardest. She was enrolled as a junior in high school for one year in New Orleans, and then attended Ladue High School as a senior when we moved here. She did well academically, but it was tough on her socially. We love St. Louis, though.We were warmly welcomed, and we embraced the community from the minute we moved here. N: You two are really a team. How are your duties split at the store? Rik: After years of opening these stores, we knew that it really takes a two-person team. Susie is the person out front who works with customers and has all the design sense. I am the back-office operations person who manages the ordering and works the numbers. I also provide personal customer service if there is ever a question or problem. It really takes both of us to make it work. N: You are both enthusiastic about Expressions, even after all these years. What makes it unique? Rik: I think it’s unique because of the package of benefits we offer. The basic thing we do is sell couches, plus other kinds of furniture and decorative accessories, but we are not any one particular thing. What we really offer is an incredible array of options. We have many frame styles to choose from, lots of fabrics, and you can pull a roll of sample fabric from our wall and drape it on a couch to see how it will look. It’s very difficult to envision anything with a tiny square fabric sample.You can choose from very soft to very firm cushions, and any couch or chair can be completely customized with multiple fabrics, skirts and welting. Our design assistance is complementary. We will even come to your home to help plan the best design scheme. Once you’ve settled on a design, your furniture will be made in America – Tupelo, Mississippi, to be exact – and delivered within 45 days. Susie: Our store is also unique because of the personal service we offer from the moment you walk in the door. One of us always says, ‘Welcome to Expressions, and thank you for coming in.’ In some stores you’re really on your own, and when you’re ready to buy something you may even have to track a salesperson down and practically say, ‘Sell me this!’ Here we have a loyal staff that really wants to help customers find what they want. We are also very proud of being an independentlyowned business. These days the ‘bigbox’ stores are everywhere, but we think it’s very important to patronize local businesses – such as restaurants – that are owned by members of our community. N: I’m getting the sense that community is very important to both of you. Susie: As a local merchant, we feel it is very important to give back to St. Louis. I am a breast cancer survivor, and have long been involved in charitable efforts for this and other causes. I recently joined the St. Louis board of the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation, and over the years we have devoted our resources to many different worthy causes. The people of St. Louis have been good to us, and we want to give back any way we can. Rik: St. Louis is like no other place we’ve been, because we felt like a part of the community from the moment we arrived. People here have always been so helpful and friendly. Our store was once an old brick schoolhouse – one of the original buildings in this part of town. It was also the location of two other furniture stores long ago. People often come in and reminisce about shopping here back then, and one or two have even recalled going to school here. We have met so many friendly people over the years, and now some of their children are our customers, too. I’m especially impressed with several Blues hockey players who have come in with their wives. They seem to be very friendly and down-to-earth.We’ve assisted a lot of high-profile clients here, and generally they are very easy to work with. N: What is the best part about being in your business? Rik: Apart from the satisfaction of helping people find the best designs for their homes, my favorite time is in August when we completely redo the store. Every summer we attend a private market to choose from items and suppliers that Ronna Griest has assembled for us. Soon the new furniture, rugs and other items begin arriving here. We have a big sale to clear out old merchandise, and then it takes a week, with some outside help, to completely redesign the store. The best time for me is the day when it’s all put back together again, with the new designs in place. It’s like the end of the school year, when you’ve just completed your last exam. Then we’re ready for another great year in St. Louis. |
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