John Kilmer Fine Interiors adds clearance center, expanded showroom

John Kilmer Fine Interiors has expanded in two directions. A new warehouse and clearance center is open at 25 New Orleans Road. In July, John Kilmer Fine Interiors will unveil a 2,200-square-foot expansion to its main showroom at Fresh Market Shoppes on U.S. 278.

At John Kilmer Fine Interiors' Warehouse and Clearance Center customers shop the same top-quality brands – Century Furniture, Hickory Chair, Ferguson Copeland, Four Hands, Tommy Bahama, John Richard, Sherrill and more – they know from the main showroom. But instead, this first-quality merchandise is discounted 50 percent to 70 percent off manufacturers’ suggested prices.

Beginning in July, savvy shoppers can explore the newly expanded showroom at Fresh Market Shoppes, where they will find new and timeless items for the home: dining, beds, sofas, chairs, recliners, lamps, decorative art and more. Highlighting the expanded decorators’ paradise will be selected items from this year’s High Point Furniture Market.

John Kilmer Fine Interiors is at 890 William Hilton Parkway, Suite 41, open from 10 to 5:30, Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 843-785-2227, 866-575-6766 or go online to www.johnkilmer.com.

Fathers and sons in business

Sons learn from their fathers. Whether it’s how to throw a ball, ride a bike, shave or tie a tie, the lessons fathers teach can last a lifetime. But how do those lessons change when a son joins his father in business?

Hilton Head Monthly met with three local father-son teams about how their relationships moved from the family circle to the daily grind. Our subjects were Mike and Robert Rivers of Low Country Shelving and Glass, Charlie and Andy Reed of Charter One Realty and Mike and Nick Kristoff of The Mortgage Network.

Read more: Fathers and sons in business

New committee aims to bring big business to our little island

There’s no question that Hilton Head Island has a lot of qualities that could attract new businesses to the community. After all, who wouldn’t want to live here? We have gorgeous beaches, great golf and tennis, fantastic restaurants and shopping, and a pretty amazing lifestyle.

So why is it that between 25 and 40 percent of the commercial space on the island is underutilized? And what can be done about it?

The answer to those questions will be tackled in the coming months by a new nonprofit Economic Development Corporation currently being formed.

Read more: New committee aims to bring big business to our little island

Just another day at the office: BFG

There’s nothing distinguished about the exterior of BFG Communications in Bluffton. It looks like any other warehouse district office space, with a pair of low rise metal-sided structures surrounded by a packed parking lot. 

Step inside, however, and it feels like entering a hipster’s dream world, where the workaday fuses with the dimly lighted anti-establishment vibe of an underground nightclub. A video wall beams over the front desk which sits on unfinished concrete flanked by street-themed art (OK, graffiti) spray-painted on block walls. 

Read more: Just another day at the office: BFG

The ties that Bind: Mothers and Daughters in business

Mothers may fight with daughters. Daughters may spend their formative years embarrassed by their moms. But the bond they share through it all, from the playroom to the boardroom, is a unique kind of love. It’s the mentoring guidance of a trusted advisor. It’s the support structure of a close sisterhood. It’s the invaluable bond of a best friend. 

And if you take that sort of relationship into a business, as you’re about to see, it makes for one happy family.

Read more: The ties that Bind: Mothers and Daughters in business

Take a tour of Shelter Cove, where locals and visitors enjoy year-round fun

Rick and Vicky Stamey travel from North Carolina to Hilton Head Island twice a year. Each visit includes a trip to Shelter Cove Harbour, so they can look at a longtime friend’s boat docked in the marina. The Stameys also bring along their binoculars to get a closer look at local wildlife.

“You’ve got pelicans, barn swallows, egrets, cedar waxwings,” Rick Stamey said. “There’s just a bunch of different kinds of birds down here. It’s a nice place.”

Read more: Take a tour of Shelter Cove, where locals and visitors enjoy year-round fun

Breed ideas, not bugs: Greenbug and the Don Ryan Center for Innovation

Sometimes inspiration is just the start of something big, and all it needs is the right encouragement and support.  Just ask Dan and Louise Hodges. The Hodges family moved to Beaufort from Charlotte in 2007, with their two daughters, Hunter and Ellen. They formerly owned a landscape design/construction business and relocated to the coast to cater to the second homeowner market. But their timing couldn’t have been worse. It was the beginning of the economic crisis, and their business began to suffer.

They started brainstorming new business ideas while learning to adapt to the coastal environment. Given their background in landscaping, they couldn’t help but notice the relative absence of outdoor living spaces as compared to their home in Charlotte. 

“People don’t utilize their backyards as much here, and I don’t think it’s because of the heat,” says Louise. “It’s because of the bugs.”

Read more: Breed ideas, not bugs: Greenbug and the Don Ryan Center for Innovation

On the move: April 2013

ON THE MOVE

Colleton River Plantation Club introduced its new general manager and chief operating officer, Timothy Bakels. Bakels comes to Colleton River from Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey, where he served as the General Manager and COO for the past seven years. 

Tiffany Rice has joined Seacoast Insurance as an insurance agent and broker. A graduate of Lander University with a bachelor of arts in mass communication, Rice has been in the insurance industry for the last four years.

Read more: On the move: April 2013