Same dance, New Tune

Same dance, New Tune

COMPANIES by Dave Szymanski | Tampa Bay Editor

Bay City Plywood and Cabinets is rebranding itself to emphasize its all-wood cabinets, but it is retaining its offbeat side, including those commercials.

Yep. Its three executives still shout, laugh hard and dance in their store on the irreverent TV commercials.

But a number of other things are changing for 28-year-old Tampa-based retailer Bay City Plywood and Cabinets.

First, it recently added "and Cabinets" to its name to focus attention on its main product. It started an advertising campaign in publications and through direct mail and billboards.

Second, it opened a new 9,000-square-foot showroom store on Dale Mabry Highway in Carrollwood, a northwest suburb of Tampa. In that store are flat-screen televisions and PCs that allow salesmen to design a custom remodeling job for a customer on his computer while she watches the result on the TV screen.

Third, in the future, Bay City will do something it's been thinking about for years: It will likely drop "Plywood" from its name. The reason: It is selling less and less of it.

Behemoth competitors Home Depot and Lowe's own that market and it is hard to outsell them on a lower-cost commodity like plywood because they constantly buy it by the truckload, especially during hurricane season.

However, despite only having five locations, Bay City is betting that it can take on Home Depot and Lowe's.

The strategy is to focus on its niche. Sell a variety of all-wood cabinets, tile and other remodeling products, such as countertops, mainly for kitchens and bathrooms. Make salespeople easily available in stores to help customers. Be competitive on price. Emphasize its local ties, with locally owned stores.

It also needs to benefit from selling less lower-margin products like plywood and more higher-margin items like oak and cherry cabinets, granite countertops and designer ceramic tile. Despite its size, Bay City believes it's had an impact with consumers and contractors.

"Bay City Plywood changed the Florida home remodeling market from particle board to wood," says Vice President Gail Przybylski.

Yet despite its local name recognition, it may be a monumental task competing in the home improvement market in Florida. The landscape has changed greatly in the past 20 years.

Home Depot and Lowe's have hundreds of stores, putting them in reach of many Florida homeowners. As new neighborhoods reached to the suburbs, the big chains followed. Then there's the national advertising campaigns. Actor Gene Hackman is the voice on the Lowe's commercials.

Both chains also sell a selection of tile and cabinets and thousands of other items, making them a one-stop shopping experience for consumers and contractors.

But Bay City thinks it can thrive because customers will appreciate the quality of its all-wood cabinets, its competitive prices, its smaller, easier-to-navigate stores and its very available customer service staff. It can do a kitchen design for a customer in any store and give them a price. Despite selling all-wood products, it still competes on price.

"One of the competitors did some price comparison ads against us," recalls Przybylski, who joined the company in 1981. "I never sold so many cabinets here in my life."

If Home Depot offers selection, the new Bay City Carrollwood showroom offers selection and flash.

It features a group of already-assembled kitchens with features such as silencers, special fixtures on drawers that make them silently roll closed; appliance garages, which can hide things like toasters behind a roll-down door; and hidden spice racks and roll-out trash cans.

There's also a Buccaneer kitchen, in pewter, black and red, and dozens of cabinet fronts mounted on the walls for customers to choose from. Customers buy the products for kitchens, bathrooms, computer rooms, offices and even closets. There are about 100 different kinds of tile in the store. And you don't need to push a cart around.

Bay City's competitors offer cabinets, but some are made with particleboard or with only wood fronts with the balance being particleboard. All-wood construction is stronger and lasts longer.

The store locations are in Tampa, Carrollwood, Clearwater, Bradenton and Hudson. The company has a 40,000-square-foot warehouse for cabinets.

Bay City began in 1979 in Tampa, when Carl Dunbar and other entrepreneurs from Chicago came to Florida to sell plywood. The company only sold "seconds," pieces of damaged or imperfect wood that it reconditioned.

It began selling cabinets about 18 years ago, but only recently decided on a name change. Now, cabinets represent about 85% of the retailer's business.

Bay City, which has 68 employees, is focused on the remodeling market, which makes up about 60% of its business. About 30% is new home buyers and 10% is small contractors.

Revenues were rising each year until the past year, when they flattened as the economy softened. The company attributes this to the Iraq war, the economy and the upcoming elections. However, Bay City believes sales will pick up quickly as homes age and are in need of remodeling.

"That's an advantage for us because homes will always age and will always need to be updated," says Przybylski.

The company also does a form of guerilla marketing. Executives drive Hummers with the company logo plastered over them in bold colors.

"I never pump gas without handing out a business card," says Przybylski, who besides managing stores appears as one of the three executives in the quirky company commercials.

"I started the laugh," he says.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Company: Bay City Plywood

Industry: Home improvement products

Key: Rebrand the company to emphasize all-wood cabinets and tile, be competitive on price.