August 23, 2024 • 20 mins
What if you could revolutionize your home organization while supporting a local business? Get ready to uncover the inspiring journey of Casey Ridley, the founder and president of The Designery. From a pre-med student at UGA to leading a nationwide enterprise with 27 locations, Casey shares his story of entrepreneurial triumph and passion for creating functional living spaces. Discover how The Designery offers a full range of services, from cabinetry to countertops, tailored to the needs of homeowners, builders, and developers. Casey also shares insights on the importance of well-organized closets and invites you to explore their stunning showrooms in Chattanooga, Cleveland, and Calhoun.
But that's not all—this episode also takes you behind the scenes to debunk common myths about box cabinets and reveal the benefits of The Designery's custom solutions. Learn how the company combines local expertise with national buying power to deliver affordable, high-quality products. Plus, Scott Howell from the Friends and Neighbors Group makes a compelling case for supporting local businesses and invites you to nominate your favorite spots to be featured on the Good Neighbor Podcast. Tune in for Casey's valuable insights on balancing business with personal passions and discover how you can make a difference in your community.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Scott Howell.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello good neighbors and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast brought to you by theFriends and Neighbors Group of
Cleveland, dalton and thegreater Chattanooga area.
My name is Scott Howell and I'myour host For you first-time
listeners.
You might be wondering hey,what's the Good Neighbor podcast
all about?
Well, it's to bring awarenessto the residents of our
(00:32):
communities regarding thelocally owned and or operated
businesses in Cleveland, dalton,chattanooga and all the
surrounding areas in thecommunities.
You know, small localbusinesses are the backbone of
our communities and they reallyneed our support.
Joining me today is our goodneighbor, casey Ridley at the
(00:52):
Designery.
Casey, thanks for being with uson the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Hey Scott, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
My pleasure.
I'm really looking forward tohearing what the Designery is
all about.
But before we jump into that,would you like to share anything
with us about yourself and yourfamily?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, sure, I'm glad to.
So I'm a Chattanooga native.
I grew up in Chattanooga, northGeorgia area, went to high
school in that area and I'malways around, lots of family
there, lots of community tiesthere.
I live closer to Atlanta now.
I'm a big UGA fan.
I went to school at UGA, so I'ma big Dawgs fan.
(01:30):
Don't hold it against me, but Ido love pretty much anything
with competition and football isone of them.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, yeah, that's great.
So is the designery, a localbusiness here to the Chattanooga
area.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
It is so.
It started in Chattanooga.
We have locations now inCleveland and Calhoun and
numerous other locationsthroughout the United States
actually.
So we have about 27 locationsnow, but our base of operations
is still Chattanooga.
For our fulfillment facility,we have several locations there
and, like I said, that was thatthat's where it started.
And, like I said, that's whereit started and that's definitely
(02:07):
where I still consider home.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Absolutely.
It's hard to get Chattanoogaout of your blood.
I tell you the wholeChattanooga area hard to get it
out.
So let's just dive right in.
Tell us all about the design.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah, absolutely Scott.
So the designery is a fullturnkey kitchen, bath and closet
company.
We specialize in cabinetry, butwe also sell flooring, tile,
countertops, accessories severalother things that you'll use
throughout the kitchen and bathand closet space.
We work with homeowners,builders, developers pretty much
(02:41):
anyone that needs thoseservices or products we work
with.
We have multiple showrooms and,of course, we work on
appointments, but we alsowelcome walk-ins as well.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Okay, and you said you have offices in Cleveland
and where is it?
Chattanooga area?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So it's technically Rossville but it's basically
Eastridge.
So we always just tell everyonethat we're right over that
state line there in Rossville.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
But we're, you know, five minutes away.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah.
And then we also have locationsin Calhoun, georgia, so a
little bit further south, butnot too far.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Okay, so if somebody is in any one of those areas,
they can just go to your storeand walk in and see what you've
got.
Is that what you're telling me?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Exactly, exactly.
So when you walk in it's youknow beautiful showroom.
You have several kitchensaround you, cabinet product all
around to pick things out, makeselections, tile, countertops.
You know truly full turnkey.
(03:47):
We work with clients ofcontractors, we work with spec
builders, we work withmultifamily developers and much
more, but the showroom is kindof that central meeting place to
make a ton of selections.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
That's awesome.
You do closet also, closetorganizing.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
You said we do yeah, we do a lot of closets and it's
incredible the things that youcan do out of the closet
material and it's all about justmaking your space more
functional.
And you know, I think closetsare a very undervalued part of
the home.
That is very, very important inyour day-to-day life and if you
(04:16):
have a clean, put togethercloset, it just really sets you
off for success.
Every day you wake up and getgoing.
And we do that for a lot ofpeople.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I used to own a house .
It was an old home and they hadtaken and put a closet
organizer in them and one of themaster bedroom was amazing.
It was just amazing the waythey had done it.
So I can attest to that.
So, casey, what's your positionwith the?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
company, so I'm the founder and president of the
design room.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Wow, well, congratulations.
I mean you don't look a dayover 80.
So I mean you're Now all y'allcan't see him.
He's a young guy.
So congratulations.
It's quite an undertaking thatyou've done there, thank you,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Thank you.
I couldn't do it without great,great employees and a great
network around me.
You know I started at a youngage, but I've been extremely
ambitious, had a very lucky andblessed few years and have just
really worked very hard to getto us to where we are now.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well, tell me about your journey.
What brought you from gettingout of school and going into
this type of occupation?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
school and going into this type of occupation?
Yeah, absolutely.
So, you know, it's kind offunny.
I mentioned earlier about howI'm a big Dawgs fan and how I
went to UGA, and so I'll kind ofstart there.
You know, in college I wasactually a pre-med student.
I was very involved, actuallydid a lot of volunteering at
Erlanger and Memorial andseveral other hospitals
throughout the Chattanooga area,just throughout my high school
and early college days of justyou know.
(05:46):
You know, giving back to thecommunity and volunteering, so
much so that I actually got ascholarship for that from Ronald
McDonald House there inChattanooga.
So you know, I was veryinvolved in the pre-med route
until I had organic chemistryand then quickly discovered that
.
You know, pre-med route until Ihad organic chemistry and then
quickly discovered that pre-medjust was not for me.
So I quickly went to my advisorand said, all right, I need
(06:08):
something else.
Clearly medicine is just not mypath anymore.
And from there I switched tobusiness and I just got super
involved.
I got involved inentrepreneurship program,
created several differentcompanies while I was in school
and just fell in love with it.
So once I got to the point ofgraduation I said, all right, I
know I don't want to go thecorporate route.
I know I want to do somethingentrepreneurially.
(06:29):
And there was a salvage companyout of Chattanooga called A1
Surplus or A1 Kitchen and Bath,and yeah.
So I basically bought thatcompany, we rebranded and then
we grew it from there to youknow where we are today.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Nice, nice.
Well, congratulations again.
That's it's.
Wow, I mean I'm impressed.
That's a thank you.
I love it when young peopletake a hold and become
successful.
I just interviewed a couplethis morning that have become
very successful with each other,so that's wonderful.
So you know, talk to me aboutsome of the myths and
(07:06):
misconceptions that people havesometimes when they go to try to
do some of the things that youoffer and they're a little
apprehensive about.
You know exactly who toapproach, how to talk about what
they you know they want.
Tell me, talk to me about that?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think there's severaldifferent kind of misconceptions
throughout the kitchen and bathspace in specific about what
quality truly means, what pricepoint truly means and what you
need to do to achieve thosethings, and one of those stigmas
is that custom shops have thisperception that they are
superior than you know.
(07:43):
Maybe box cabinets is kind ofthe phrase that people might use
.
What's funny about that is it'sjust really not true, right?
So you know, having a companythat has the box cabinets, if
you will, there's, there'sincredible things that they can
do.
They're very custom actually,and so for us, for example, you
know we use equipment that arejust out of reach of custom
(08:06):
companies.
So that could be something likethe way we do our dados or the
way we dovetail our drawers, thesoft tail or the soft close
items, right?
Things like that that we dothroughout our building process
and throughout our manufacturingis so much more superior than
just what someone can do in asmall custom shop.
And you know, like I said,that's a misconception in the
(08:26):
area that you know we'reconstantly trying to.
You know set straight, becauseyou know you can come to us and
get something of really, reallygood quality actually better
quality in most areas, but for afraction of the price, because
there's a lot less labor andit's much more consistent, and
you have all those things totake into account.
Thankfully, we've been able togrow to the size we are.
(08:48):
So, even though we're a localcompany and you're working with
local staff, local team like Isaid, I'm from Chattanooga but
you're also getting the buyingpower of a national brand who is
bringing that to you, which isjust incredible and, like I said
, it gives you a lot ofopportunities there as a
homebuyer or as a builder.
(09:08):
That you're working with a localteam but you still get all the
benefits of kind of a largercompany.
And so we take that concept andwe kind of mesh that together
about the custom shop and theRTA shop and we kind of mesh
that together to be what is nowthe designery.
So you know, if there's onething that I could, you know,
set straight out there and andyou know, rather you shop at the
designery or not it is just,you know, look at all your
(09:29):
options, don't necessarily justgo to a custom shop because you
think that they're better,because in reality they could be
, but they could also not be.
And so I definitely, you know,advise people to just look at
your options and make sure thatyou know you're really
comfortable with the routeyou're going, that the quality
is what you want, the pricepoint is where you want it to be
and you don't just accept whatyou know.
(09:52):
Certain people who maybe haveoutdated information and more
outdated, you know, set ofbeliefs, don't accept that and,
you know, try to see foryourself what um opportunities
you have in your area um as wellthat's what, hey, that's what
the competition is all about.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
We can get multiple prices and you just check out
the quality.
That's what's far.
It's what keeps us all honest,right, competition absolutely,
absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
You know there's a reason why.
You know kroger and walmart arealways nearby, home Depot and
Lowe's are always next door.
You know competition isextremely important and it's
what makes the industry thrive.
So I, you know, always love tonetwork with people who are
doing a very similar thing.
I love to get to know them, Ilove to learn from them and vice
versa.
I hope I can teach them somethings every now and then as
(10:39):
well.
And you know, competition isextremely important and it's
never something that we shouldshy away from.
And so people who might belistening out there, who are in
the industry, I hope they aren'toffended by some of the
opinions that I say today, butat the same time, I hope that
they can respect and maybe learnsomething on their own as well.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you know, we all knowwhat we're doing, what we're
good at, and and, uh, you know.
We also know if we produce agood product or an inferior
product.
We all know that.
Uh, so you know, you know.
Then there's some people youknow and and and not to say.
When I said I guess I shouldn'tuse the word inferior, I
apologize for that.
We all know when we offercheaper products, there's some
people maybe can't afford thehigh-end stuff.
(11:20):
They can't afford that and theyneed a better price point.
There's nothing wrong withoffering top of the line and
maybe middle grade.
We've got to have something foreverybody, that's for sure.
I have to make it affordable.
Whatever we do, it has to beaffordable for the market that
we're going after.
You met a while ago.
(11:41):
You're married.
You make you all go.
You have, you're married.
Uh, what do y'all like to dofor fun when you're not working?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
well, I do work quite a bit, um, but I will say that
when I'm not working, I do lovetennis.
I love getting out on the courtsand you know, hitting, hitting
around, rather, that's withfriends, family or, you know, in
leagues that I'll do around thearea.
I'm actually in a league in thedalton georgia area, so I'll do
a league there.
Um, I love golf, I love prettymuch all sports.
(12:10):
Rather it's watching them ordoing them.
Um, I will say I'm not quite asin shape as I once was, scott,
as I'm sure that a lot of us canrelate to, um, you know, but
nonetheless it's fun to get outthere and still, you know, still
participate.
If I'm not doing those things,then just, you know, quite
frankly, spending time withfamily, you know I love.
You know, like you said, I havea wife.
We're very close with all ofour siblings and our parents and
(12:33):
just everyone that is close tous.
We're very close with them and,you know, we just love spending
time with them.
So that's another part.
That could be seeing a movieand doing something like that,
or it could be just having afamily dinner on a Saturday
night when we get the free time,so anything like that.
And then the last thing I'llsay is traveling.
(12:54):
Everyone loves to travel, right, I am a sucker for learning and
history and traveling to enjoythose things.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
So I love history.
I love learning more aboutpeople, places and things,
that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
You know, casey, you're young, you've built a
good business, and I would liketo ask you a kind of more
personal question.
Can you describe any hardshipor life challenge maybe that you
went through?
That you know after you've comethrough it and you look back
you can say, hey, you know I'mbetter or stronger for what I
(13:32):
went through.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Yeah, that's a really good question, scott.
Obviously, and especially forthe fellow business owners out
there, you all know that there'sa ton of challenges that you
will go through throughout thewalk of life of being an
entrepreneur.
It looks glamorous from theoutside.
Looking in, scott is being ayounger guy.
(13:56):
So you know, you're young whenyou get started and sometimes
there can be a stigma or a lackof respect based on age right,
and you know it's kind of funny.
You look at people like SteveJobs or Bill Gates or any of
those people and you're like,well, they started out really,
really young and they went, youknow, and became really
successful, but most of the timepeople don't remember that they
(14:19):
were 20 or 21 when they gotstarted they remember their 30s
or 40s, when they made a billiondollars, right and uh.
So, you know, I think one of thechallenges is just earning
people's respect from employees,customers, colleagues, um, you
know so much more there's.
You know, there's a sense ofprejudice just against young,
young people that are kind of ina place of authority.
(14:39):
They think that, you know, itwas probably given to them and
that's just kind of the obviousthought people jump to, and
sometimes that's true, right,there's a stigma for a reason,
like, I get that.
But it is something that I hadto personally overcome and I had
to earn respect from people andI had to work every day to
prove that I, you know, deservedto be where I was and that I
worked very hard, with a lot ofstrategy and a lot of
(15:00):
intelligence to get me there.
And you also have to have theright blend of humility, though,
to mix into that.
So confidence and humility,you've got to blend those things
together in order to earn thatrespect.
And it's, you know, it's achallenge and you know, and
that's something that I think,for the most part, I think I've
overcome that and I think thatbecause of that, my work ethic
(15:22):
is so much better than you knowprobably ever would have been
and I have, you know, justreally achieved some incredible
things, and I think it's fromthat challenge and just being
able to work through thatchallenge and overcome that
challenge and have difficultconversations.
So, you know, I would say thatchallenge I'm better off for.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
People will ignore certain things, like your youth
and different things like that,if you provide good quality work
and stand behind it.
If you don't stand behind whatyou do, then people don't care
how old you are, they don't carehow you got where you're at.
If you're not going to standbehind it, you're going to have
the most impressive story in theworld.
If you don't stand behind whatyou do, they don't care.
(16:02):
There's an old saying peopledon't care what you know.
They want to know how much youcare If we stand behind what we
do.
That's the main thing.
If there was one thing that youwish our listeners could know
about the designery, one thingthat they wouldn't know unless
you told them and you'd like toshout it from the rooftops,
(16:24):
casey what would it be?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Scott, that's a great question, you know.
So we have a list of valuesthat we really try to live by,
and one of those values iscommunity.
One of those values iscommunity.
And you know, as as cliche asit is, we are super involved in
the community, from high schoolsponsorships to little league
teams, the chamber events, youknow, and much more you know.
And then you know we are alsoinvolved with our community from
(16:49):
a national level.
We have, you know, we're aproud sponsor of Dr Carson's
foundation.
We also work with a companycalled Operation Homefront who
helps veterans get placed afterservice, and so all of those
things that we do is just ourway of giving back to the
community.
Rather, it's a local level or anational level.
It's really important to usthat we not only say that's our
(17:11):
value but we live by that, and Ireally encourage everyone out
there to.
I know we can get lost in thatday to day grind of building a
business and satisfying ourcustomers and all of those
things are extremely important,but at the same time we have to
reflect.
And how do we give back and howdo we live by, you know, our
community standards or values orethics that you know one might
(17:32):
possess, and so I hope that Ican kind of give that to the
listeners of hey.
Community is very important andthe design stands by the work
that we do in the community andand the ways that we try to give
back and the hope that we haveto give back even more as we
continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
That sounds awesome.
That's a good answer, reallygood answer.
I can tell you made it to notjust one, it was canned.
I appreciate you.
You know we thank you for beingon the program today.
But before we go, I know a lotof people would like to know,
online or offline, how couldthey reach you, how can they get
in touch with?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
you Absolutely Well.
Please reach out.
I mean, I'm super involved inLinkedIn or Facebook.
My name is Casey Ridley, so youknow, please reach out to me on
LinkedIn or Facebook, visit usat thedesignerycom or, of course
, feel free to stop by any ofour showrooms.
You know, one of them is on KeyStreet off in Cleveland,
tennessee, and the other one isoff of Direct Connection Drive
(18:28):
in Rossville, georgia, off theEast Ridge exit.
So stop into our showrooms.
Visit me on LinkedIn orFacebook, reach out to me or
check out our website atthedesignerycom.
Reach out to me or check outour website at thedesignerycom
and I would love to connect withyou.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Thanks for being on the show today, Casey.
I hope a lot of people see thisand reach out to you and find
the satisfaction they need andwhat you're offering.
So thanks a lot for being withus today, buddy.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Thank you, Scott.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
My pleasure To all the good neighbors of the
Cleveland and Dalton and theChattanooga areas and after
after meeting with you know,with Casey and learning more
about the designery, I know hehopes you'll take a moment to
consider all they have to offerand remember them when you're in
need or want the products andservices they provide.
And before ending this episode,I'd like to thank you, all the
(19:14):
listeners.
Thank you for taking the timeout of your busy day to visit
with us at the Good Neighborpodcast.
Always remember to support thelocally owned and or operated
businesses in Cleveland, daltonand the whole greater
Chattanooga area.
There's so many communities andtowns that I wish I had the
time to mention all of them, butwe know who you are.
You know who you are andthere's businesses in all these
(19:36):
little areas and we need to besupportive of them.
So we'd like to ask you toremember us on Facebook,
instagram, pinterest, youtubeJust, we're going to be having
TikTok videos for long.
Go there and like us and helpspread the word to the local
people in this great Chattanoogaarea about this podcast and
(19:57):
they can learn more about localbusinesses that they can support
.
My name's Scott Howell.
I'm with the Friends andNeighbors Group.
Everyone go out and make this aremarkable day.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPClevelandcom.
That's GNPClevelandcom.
That's GNPClevelandcom, or call423-380-1984.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Scott Howell.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello good neighbors and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast brought to you by theFriends and Neighbors Group of
Cleveland, dalton and thegreater Chattanooga area.
My name is Scott Howell and I'myour host For you first-time
listeners.
You might be wondering hey,what's the Good Neighbor podcast
all about?
Well, it's to bring awarenessto the residents of our
(00:32):
communities regarding thelocally owned and or operated
businesses in Cleveland, dalton,chattanooga and all the
surrounding areas in thecommunities.
You know, small localbusinesses are the backbone of
our communities and they reallyneed our support.
Joining me today is our goodneighbor, casey Ridley at the
(00:52):
Designery.
Casey, thanks for being with uson the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Hey Scott, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
My pleasure.
I'm really looking forward tohearing what the Designery is
all about.
But before we jump into that,would you like to share anything
with us about yourself and yourfamily?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, sure, I'm glad to.
So I'm a Chattanooga native.
I grew up in Chattanooga, northGeorgia area, went to high
school in that area and I'malways around, lots of family
there, lots of community tiesthere.
I live closer to Atlanta now.
I'm a big UGA fan.
I went to school at UGA, so I'ma big Dawgs fan.
(01:30):
Don't hold it against me, but Ido love pretty much anything
with competition and football isone of them.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah, yeah, that's great.
So is the designery, a localbusiness here to the Chattanooga
area.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
It is so.
It started in Chattanooga.
We have locations now inCleveland and Calhoun and
numerous other locationsthroughout the United States
actually.
So we have about 27 locationsnow, but our base of operations
is still Chattanooga.
For our fulfillment facility,we have several locations there
and, like I said, that was thatthat's where it started.
And, like I said, that's whereit started and that's definitely
(02:07):
where I still consider home.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Absolutely.
It's hard to get Chattanoogaout of your blood.
I tell you the wholeChattanooga area hard to get it
out.
So let's just dive right in.
Tell us all about the design.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah, absolutely Scott.
So the designery is a fullturnkey kitchen, bath and closet
company.
We specialize in cabinetry, butwe also sell flooring, tile,
countertops, accessories severalother things that you'll use
throughout the kitchen and bathand closet space.
We work with homeowners,builders, developers pretty much
(02:41):
anyone that needs thoseservices or products we work
with.
We have multiple showrooms and,of course, we work on
appointments, but we alsowelcome walk-ins as well.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Okay, and you said you have offices in Cleveland
and where is it?
Chattanooga area?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So it's technically Rossville but it's basically
Eastridge.
So we always just tell everyonethat we're right over that
state line there in Rossville.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
But we're, you know, five minutes away.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah.
And then we also have locationsin Calhoun, georgia, so a
little bit further south, butnot too far.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Okay, so if somebody is in any one of those areas,
they can just go to your storeand walk in and see what you've
got.
Is that what you're telling me?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Exactly, exactly.
So when you walk in it's youknow beautiful showroom.
You have several kitchensaround you, cabinet product all
around to pick things out, makeselections, tile, countertops.
You know truly full turnkey.
(03:47):
We work with clients ofcontractors, we work with spec
builders, we work withmultifamily developers and much
more, but the showroom is kindof that central meeting place to
make a ton of selections.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
That's awesome.
You do closet also, closetorganizing.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
You said we do yeah, we do a lot of closets and it's
incredible the things that youcan do out of the closet
material and it's all about justmaking your space more
functional.
And you know, I think closetsare a very undervalued part of
the home.
That is very, very important inyour day-to-day life and if you
(04:16):
have a clean, put togethercloset, it just really sets you
off for success.
Every day you wake up and getgoing.
And we do that for a lot ofpeople.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I used to own a house .
It was an old home and they hadtaken and put a closet
organizer in them and one of themaster bedroom was amazing.
It was just amazing the waythey had done it.
So I can attest to that.
So, casey, what's your positionwith the?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
company, so I'm the founder and president of the
design room.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Wow, well, congratulations.
I mean you don't look a dayover 80.
So I mean you're Now all y'allcan't see him.
He's a young guy.
So congratulations.
It's quite an undertaking thatyou've done there, thank you,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Thank you.
I couldn't do it without great,great employees and a great
network around me.
You know I started at a youngage, but I've been extremely
ambitious, had a very lucky andblessed few years and have just
really worked very hard to getto us to where we are now.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well, tell me about your journey.
What brought you from gettingout of school and going into
this type of occupation?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
school and going into this type of occupation?
Yeah, absolutely.
So, you know, it's kind offunny.
I mentioned earlier about howI'm a big Dawgs fan and how I
went to UGA, and so I'll kind ofstart there.
You know, in college I wasactually a pre-med student.
I was very involved, actuallydid a lot of volunteering at
Erlanger and Memorial andseveral other hospitals
throughout the Chattanooga area,just throughout my high school
and early college days of justyou know.
(05:46):
You know, giving back to thecommunity and volunteering, so
much so that I actually got ascholarship for that from Ronald
McDonald House there inChattanooga.
So you know, I was veryinvolved in the pre-med route
until I had organic chemistryand then quickly discovered that
.
You know, pre-med route until Ihad organic chemistry and then
quickly discovered that pre-medjust was not for me.
So I quickly went to my advisorand said, all right, I need
(06:08):
something else.
Clearly medicine is just not mypath anymore.
And from there I switched tobusiness and I just got super
involved.
I got involved inentrepreneurship program,
created several differentcompanies while I was in school
and just fell in love with it.
So once I got to the point ofgraduation I said, all right, I
know I don't want to go thecorporate route.
I know I want to do somethingentrepreneurially.
(06:29):
And there was a salvage companyout of Chattanooga called A1
Surplus or A1 Kitchen and Bath,and yeah.
So I basically bought thatcompany, we rebranded and then
we grew it from there to youknow where we are today.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Nice, nice.
Well, congratulations again.
That's it's.
Wow, I mean I'm impressed.
That's a thank you.
I love it when young peopletake a hold and become
successful.
I just interviewed a couplethis morning that have become
very successful with each other,so that's wonderful.
So you know, talk to me aboutsome of the myths and
(07:06):
misconceptions that people havesometimes when they go to try to
do some of the things that youoffer and they're a little
apprehensive about.
You know exactly who toapproach, how to talk about what
they you know they want.
Tell me, talk to me about that?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think there's severaldifferent kind of misconceptions
throughout the kitchen and bathspace in specific about what
quality truly means, what pricepoint truly means and what you
need to do to achieve thosethings, and one of those stigmas
is that custom shops have thisperception that they are
superior than you know.
(07:43):
Maybe box cabinets is kind ofthe phrase that people might use
.
What's funny about that is it'sjust really not true, right?
So you know, having a companythat has the box cabinets, if
you will, there's, there'sincredible things that they can
do.
They're very custom actually,and so for us, for example, you
know we use equipment that arejust out of reach of custom
(08:06):
companies.
So that could be something likethe way we do our dados or the
way we dovetail our drawers, thesoft tail or the soft close
items, right?
Things like that that we dothroughout our building process
and throughout our manufacturingis so much more superior than
just what someone can do in asmall custom shop.
And you know, like I said,that's a misconception in the
(08:26):
area that you know we'reconstantly trying to.
You know set straight, becauseyou know you can come to us and
get something of really, reallygood quality actually better
quality in most areas, but for afraction of the price, because
there's a lot less labor andit's much more consistent, and
you have all those things totake into account.
Thankfully, we've been able togrow to the size we are.
(08:48):
So, even though we're a localcompany and you're working with
local staff, local team like Isaid, I'm from Chattanooga but
you're also getting the buyingpower of a national brand who is
bringing that to you, which isjust incredible and, like I said
, it gives you a lot ofopportunities there as a
homebuyer or as a builder.
(09:08):
That you're working with a localteam but you still get all the
benefits of kind of a largercompany.
And so we take that concept andwe kind of mesh that together
about the custom shop and theRTA shop and we kind of mesh
that together to be what is nowthe designery.
So you know, if there's onething that I could, you know,
set straight out there and andyou know, rather you shop at the
designery or not it is just,you know, look at all your
(09:29):
options, don't necessarily justgo to a custom shop because you
think that they're better,because in reality they could be
, but they could also not be.
And so I definitely, you know,advise people to just look at
your options and make sure thatyou know you're really
comfortable with the routeyou're going, that the quality
is what you want, the pricepoint is where you want it to be
and you don't just accept whatyou know.
(09:52):
Certain people who maybe haveoutdated information and more
outdated, you know, set ofbeliefs, don't accept that and,
you know, try to see foryourself what um opportunities
you have in your area um as wellthat's what, hey, that's what
the competition is all about.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
We can get multiple prices and you just check out
the quality.
That's what's far.
It's what keeps us all honest,right, competition absolutely,
absolutely.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
You know there's a reason why.
You know kroger and walmart arealways nearby, home Depot and
Lowe's are always next door.
You know competition isextremely important and it's
what makes the industry thrive.
So I, you know, always love tonetwork with people who are
doing a very similar thing.
I love to get to know them, Ilove to learn from them and vice
versa.
I hope I can teach them somethings every now and then as
(10:39):
well.
And you know, competition isextremely important and it's
never something that we shouldshy away from.
And so people who might belistening out there, who are in
the industry, I hope they aren'toffended by some of the
opinions that I say today, butat the same time, I hope that
they can respect and maybe learnsomething on their own as well.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you know, we all knowwhat we're doing, what we're
good at, and and, uh, you know.
We also know if we produce agood product or an inferior
product.
We all know that.
Uh, so you know, you know.
Then there's some people youknow and and and not to say.
When I said I guess I shouldn'tuse the word inferior, I
apologize for that.
We all know when we offercheaper products, there's some
people maybe can't afford thehigh-end stuff.
(11:20):
They can't afford that and theyneed a better price point.
There's nothing wrong withoffering top of the line and
maybe middle grade.
We've got to have something foreverybody, that's for sure.
I have to make it affordable.
Whatever we do, it has to beaffordable for the market that
we're going after.
You met a while ago.
(11:41):
You're married.
You make you all go.
You have, you're married.
Uh, what do y'all like to dofor fun when you're not working?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
well, I do work quite a bit, um, but I will say that
when I'm not working, I do lovetennis.
I love getting out on the courtsand you know, hitting, hitting
around, rather, that's withfriends, family or, you know, in
leagues that I'll do around thearea.
I'm actually in a league in thedalton georgia area, so I'll do
a league there.
Um, I love golf, I love prettymuch all sports.
(12:10):
Rather it's watching them ordoing them.
Um, I will say I'm not quite asin shape as I once was, scott,
as I'm sure that a lot of us canrelate to, um, you know, but
nonetheless it's fun to get outthere and still, you know, still
participate.
If I'm not doing those things,then just, you know, quite
frankly, spending time withfamily, you know I love.
You know, like you said, I havea wife.
We're very close with all ofour siblings and our parents and
(12:33):
just everyone that is close tous.
We're very close with them and,you know, we just love spending
time with them.
So that's another part.
That could be seeing a movieand doing something like that,
or it could be just having afamily dinner on a Saturday
night when we get the free time,so anything like that.
And then the last thing I'llsay is traveling.
(12:54):
Everyone loves to travel, right, I am a sucker for learning and
history and traveling to enjoythose things.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
So I love history.
I love learning more aboutpeople, places and things,
that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
You know, casey, you're young, you've built a
good business, and I would liketo ask you a kind of more
personal question.
Can you describe any hardshipor life challenge maybe that you
went through?
That you know after you've comethrough it and you look back
you can say, hey, you know I'mbetter or stronger for what I
(13:32):
went through.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Yeah, that's a really good question, scott.
Obviously, and especially forthe fellow business owners out
there, you all know that there'sa ton of challenges that you
will go through throughout thewalk of life of being an
entrepreneur.
It looks glamorous from theoutside.
Looking in, scott is being ayounger guy.
(13:56):
So you know, you're young whenyou get started and sometimes
there can be a stigma or a lackof respect based on age right,
and you know it's kind of funny.
You look at people like SteveJobs or Bill Gates or any of
those people and you're like,well, they started out really,
really young and they went, youknow, and became really
successful, but most of the timepeople don't remember that they
(14:19):
were 20 or 21 when they gotstarted they remember their 30s
or 40s, when they made a billiondollars, right and uh.
So, you know, I think one of thechallenges is just earning
people's respect from employees,customers, colleagues, um, you
know so much more there's.
You know, there's a sense ofprejudice just against young,
young people that are kind of ina place of authority.
(14:39):
They think that, you know, itwas probably given to them and
that's just kind of the obviousthought people jump to, and
sometimes that's true, right,there's a stigma for a reason,
like, I get that.
But it is something that I hadto personally overcome and I had
to earn respect from people andI had to work every day to
prove that I, you know, deservedto be where I was and that I
worked very hard, with a lot ofstrategy and a lot of
(15:00):
intelligence to get me there.
And you also have to have theright blend of humility, though,
to mix into that.
So confidence and humility,you've got to blend those things
together in order to earn thatrespect.
And it's, you know, it's achallenge and you know, and
that's something that I think,for the most part, I think I've
overcome that and I think thatbecause of that, my work ethic
(15:22):
is so much better than you knowprobably ever would have been
and I have, you know, justreally achieved some incredible
things, and I think it's fromthat challenge and just being
able to work through thatchallenge and overcome that
challenge and have difficultconversations.
So, you know, I would say thatchallenge I'm better off for.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
People will ignore certain things, like your youth
and different things like that,if you provide good quality work
and stand behind it.
If you don't stand behind whatyou do, then people don't care
how old you are, they don't carehow you got where you're at.
If you're not going to standbehind it, you're going to have
the most impressive story in theworld.
If you don't stand behind whatyou do, they don't care.
(16:02):
There's an old saying peopledon't care what you know.
They want to know how much youcare If we stand behind what we
do.
That's the main thing.
If there was one thing that youwish our listeners could know
about the designery, one thingthat they wouldn't know unless
you told them and you'd like toshout it from the rooftops,
(16:24):
casey what would it be?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Scott, that's a great question, you know.
So we have a list of valuesthat we really try to live by,
and one of those values iscommunity.
One of those values iscommunity.
And you know, as as cliche asit is, we are super involved in
the community, from high schoolsponsorships to little league
teams, the chamber events, youknow, and much more you know.
And then you know we are alsoinvolved with our community from
(16:49):
a national level.
We have, you know, we're aproud sponsor of Dr Carson's
foundation.
We also work with a companycalled Operation Homefront who
helps veterans get placed afterservice, and so all of those
things that we do is just ourway of giving back to the
community.
Rather, it's a local level or anational level.
It's really important to usthat we not only say that's our
(17:11):
value but we live by that, and Ireally encourage everyone out
there to.
I know we can get lost in thatday to day grind of building a
business and satisfying ourcustomers and all of those
things are extremely important,but at the same time we have to
reflect.
And how do we give back and howdo we live by, you know, our
community standards or values orethics that you know one might
(17:32):
possess, and so I hope that Ican kind of give that to the
listeners of hey.
Community is very important andthe design stands by the work
that we do in the community andand the ways that we try to give
back and the hope that we haveto give back even more as we
continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
That sounds awesome.
That's a good answer, reallygood answer.
I can tell you made it to notjust one, it was canned.
I appreciate you.
You know we thank you for beingon the program today.
But before we go, I know a lotof people would like to know,
online or offline, how couldthey reach you, how can they get
in touch with?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
you Absolutely Well.
Please reach out.
I mean, I'm super involved inLinkedIn or Facebook.
My name is Casey Ridley, so youknow, please reach out to me on
LinkedIn or Facebook, visit usat thedesignerycom or, of course
, feel free to stop by any ofour showrooms.
You know, one of them is on KeyStreet off in Cleveland,
tennessee, and the other one isoff of Direct Connection Drive
(18:28):
in Rossville, georgia, off theEast Ridge exit.
So stop into our showrooms.
Visit me on LinkedIn orFacebook, reach out to me or
check out our website atthedesignerycom.
Reach out to me or check outour website at thedesignerycom
and I would love to connect withyou.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Thanks for being on the show today, Casey.
I hope a lot of people see thisand reach out to you and find
the satisfaction they need andwhat you're offering.
So thanks a lot for being withus today, buddy.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Thank you, Scott.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
My pleasure To all the good neighbors of the
Cleveland and Dalton and theChattanooga areas and after
after meeting with you know,with Casey and learning more
about the designery, I know hehopes you'll take a moment to
consider all they have to offerand remember them when you're in
need or want the products andservices they provide.
And before ending this episode,I'd like to thank you, all the
(19:14):
listeners.
Thank you for taking the timeout of your busy day to visit
with us at the Good Neighborpodcast.
Always remember to support thelocally owned and or operated
businesses in Cleveland, daltonand the whole greater
Chattanooga area.
There's so many communities andtowns that I wish I had the
time to mention all of them, butwe know who you are.
You know who you are andthere's businesses in all these
(19:36):
little areas and we need to besupportive of them.
So we'd like to ask you toremember us on Facebook,
instagram, pinterest, youtubeJust, we're going to be having
TikTok videos for long.
Go there and like us and helpspread the word to the local
people in this great Chattanoogaarea about this podcast and
(19:57):
they can learn more about localbusinesses that they can support
.
My name's Scott Howell.
I'm with the Friends andNeighbors Group.
Everyone go out and make this aremarkable day.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPClevelandcom.
That's GNPClevelandcom.
That's GNPClevelandcom, or call423-380-1984.
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