By Justin Sayers, Austin Business Journal
The company projects revenues growth could reach 20% in next few years
Some of the country’s biggest retailers have been struggling amid the current economy, but a local company is bucking the trend.
After a slow 2023, furniture-maker Four Hands LLC is projecting that revenue growth could reach 20% over the next couple of years, according to Chief Operating Officer Jim Anderson.
Anderson credited the Austin-based company’s rosy projections to its business model, which relies on partnerships within the design community, such as one with designer Amber Lewis, and with large- and mid-sized retailers that sell its products. He also credited his company’s high-quality products and commitment to quick shipping.
“We’re excited about it, especially in lieu of the majority of the furniture industry has been trending down, not trending up this year as well,” Anderson said. “Four Hands definitely has got a special sauce that is working really, really well, and we’re excited about the future.”
Four Hands created a buzz within the Austin-area industrial market after it signed the largest industrial lease of this year’s second quarter — 570,489 square feet at Building 2 of the Airport Logistics Center at 6106 Ross Road in Del Valle. The 800,000-square-foot industrial park was built by Dallas-based Dalfen Industrial LLC and is being leased by Ace Schlameus and Kyle McCulloch of JLL.
The move makes Four Hands one of the area’s largest industrial tenants. Anderson said it will increase the company’s footprint to 1.2 million square feet of warehouse space, supplementing its headquarters and retail store at 2090 Woodward St. in South Austin.
As of now, it has 1.1 million square feet of industrial leases spread across eight buildings in South Austin and Buda. Three Austin warehouse leases expire in early 2025, however, and the company plans to vacate those and move into the Airport Logistics building by the end of this year, Anderson said.
The moves equate to a net increase of only about 100,000 square feet, but Anderson said the modernity of the new building and its higher clear heights will enable Four Hands to increase its volume capacity by 60%, while also reducing its number of facilities overall and thus improving efficiency.
“Furniture is big, bulky and odd-sized, and the more you have to move it around from building to building, you’re not only incurring costs, but you’re also incurring risk of damage,” Anderson said. “By having fewer roofs to move between, we are able to reduce the overall touches of the product and be able to deliver a product and increase our quality metrics associated with it.”
The upshot is the company will be able to increase its inventory levels and, ultimately, get products to consumers quicker, Anderson said. The goal is to have 75% of inventory in the new facility on day one, with the remaining 25% coming within 30 days.
“Furniture has the traditional experience of having long lead times for delivery. By us increasing our inventory especially around those key items that customers really, really need and really, really want, we have the ability to increase our fill rates to them on their first delivery,” he said.
The new South Austin facility also means more of its facilities will be closer together, creating advantages for fulfillment employees who have to move around between warehouses. Four Hands currently has 800 employees worldwide, Anderson said, including 200 full-time in distribution in the Austin-area.
“When we put a warehouse in proximity, we’re not having the risk of losing employees because it’s a longer commute,” Anderson said. “We also, with those fewer roofs, wedon’t have to spread and move our employees around as much, so they’re able to have a little bit more under a specific roof for an entire day or a week, wherever we need them.”