Page 70 - Lighting Magazine January 2020

Retail Spotlight: Two CiTies
of builder business. Most every builder in the area wants their customers to come in here for their lighting,” he recounts. To keep up with demand, the showroom now has six full-time employees.
With the styles offered now on point, the right personnel in place, a good reputation among the community’s trade and consumers, and a growing regional market, Shane isn’t con- tent to rest on his laurels.
“Recently we’ve started spending on our internet marketing and presence, paying atten- tion to key words and making sure we show up in searches,” he says. Citing the adage, “You need to spend money to make money,” Shane says the investment in creating a user-friendly website is worth it. “We’ve only done [internet marketing] for a few months and we’ve already broken even,” he states. “Just recently we re- ceived an order on our website from Colorado for $4,000 worth of ceiling fans and a $1,000 order from Iowa for outdoor fixtures.”
Don’t ignore the mobile version of your showroom’s website, Shane advises his peers. “You have to do it all now, and that means having a good website on mobile devices, too. At Hagen’s, we’re trying to make the shopping experience better whether you’re online or in store.”
Like many showrooms, Hagen’s Lighting has its fair share of folks who find a lower price on the internet for the same fixture hanging in the store. “We always thank the customers who come in to price match because at least they’ve given us the opportunity to get the business instead of just buying it online,” he remarks.
Engendering loyalty with customers is impor- tant to Shane and is one reason they disclose the brand names. “In the past, we hid all that information [like everyone else] but we want our customers to know they can trust us and that we’re open and transparent,” he notes.
Visiting a brick-and-mortar store is a lesson Shane has also been teaching his young chil- dren. “When my 8-year-old daughter wanted a mermaid tail [costume] to wear in the pool, we researched the product online together, and then I told her, ‘Now let’s find it locally.’ My daughter said, ‘Why?’ And I explained the importance to her.”
The showroom’s exten- sive hardware section is immediately in front, instead of being tucked away in a back corner.
DEMENT Lighting Lubbock, Texas
F
building his own house that the idea struck that Lubbock needed a good resource for lighting fixtures; he then added the category to the mer- chandise mix. Years later, the family-run business changed; Dru’s mom, Nancy, took over the lighting side from her father and changed the name to Dement Lighting while Dru’s father ran his own shop, Dement Hard- ware in Aledo, Texas.
Dru recounts growing up with no particular desire to be in the family business, although he would work in the warehouse in the summers while attending college. He met Crystal, whose family is from San Antonio, while she was a student at Texas Tech.
“When my dad was in the business, the builder clientele was mostly smaller and tract homes,” Dru recalls. As the Lubbock area boomed due to growing jobs in agriculture, energy (oil and gas), and the medical com- munity, new construction has become robust on the custom and luxury end. That change has also influenced the criteria for purchasing. Decisions aren’t based on price alone – “I don’t even look at pricetags at market,” Dru admits – but more on whether the style will suit customers’ tastes.
“The demographic of Lubbock is getting younger as people in their 20s are coming in and building homes,” Crystal states. With those population changes have come a fresher approach to design.
“This region has been slow to change and slow to let go,” Dru remarks. “When I started [here], everyone wanted brown and curly. Then build- ers started to build more Contemporary homes and pushing the comfort zone.”
66 enLIGHTenment Magazine | January 2020
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ounded in 1959 as a plumbing supply shop called C&M Supply, Dru Dement’s grandfather bought the business 40 years ago and
kept the name. According to Dru, it was when his grandfather was