Online outdoor furniture brand opening its first showrooms, with one in Johnson County

Like most businesses, Yardbird was worried how the COVID-19 shutdown would impact its business.

The Minneapolis-based company sells its exclusive line of sustainable furniture online and it had just ended its slow season. If sales were down over its peak spring and summer seasons, followed by the slower fall and winter months, it would be really tough to recover, said Jay Dillon, who founded the company in 2017 with his father, Bob.

The company also had recently received $5.5 million from a venture capital firm and was opening its first showrooms, picking spots in Overland Park, Denver and Detroit.

The Denver location was only open for a week before the shutdown. (It reopened last week.) The Overland Park store opening was pushed back from March 30 to May 11. Detroit is still under construction.

But the Dillons didn’t have to worry.

Online sales are booming. On an average week during its busy season, it might take in around a quarter of a million dollars. Last week it had almost a million in sales.

Jay Dillon reasoned: You can’t go to baseball games, you can’t dine outdoors at restaurants, so you might as well invest in your outdoor areas at home.

“People are like, ‘My kid is not going to summer camp. Can you have this delivered by next week?’ ” he said.

‘I think we’re in business’

Yardbird got its start when Jay and his then girlfriend now wife, Rachael, were looking for outdoor furniture. They discovered a set of good quality pieces would set them back $5,000 to $6,000. Dillon wondered why the cost was so high.

He took a week off and went to Indonesia trade shows and toured factories. One high-end piece cost $120 to make. He took out his phone to see what it was selling for in the United States — $980. He called Rachael and said, “I think we’re in business.”

He researched the industry for another year, then asked Rachael if she would be willing to move to Hong Kong for eight months.

“She said, ‘That’s not the right question,’ ” he said. He later popped the right question, and they married in 2018.

Still, she made the move in 2016, continuing her public relations career during the week while Jay toured China factories Monday through Friday, and worked on his business plan.

“What makes furniture high quality? I took a welding class. I paid a seamstress so I could sit by her for two-and-a-half weeks using Google translate, until she said I was slowing her down too much,” he said.

Back at home, getting started

The couple returned to Minneapolis and their friends and family invested $60,000 in Yardbird, including Jay’s father, Bob, who sold garden tools, shelving and other items to big box retailers.

They placed a $100,000 order to a Vietnamese factory and sold 95 percent of it in three weeks.

Dillon said the pieces are not inexpensive — one set of two chairs, a sofa and coffee table retails for $2,600 — but that’s still 40 to 50 percent less than many high-end retailers offering similar quality since Yardbird cuts out the middleman.

Jay’s favorite set is the Luna — $1,780 for a love seat, two chairs and a coffee table (with a cushion so it can convert to more seating).

They picked the Kansas City area for one of their first showrooms because it was already a huge market for online orders.

Yardbird, 6941 W. 119th St, at the southeast corner of 119th Street and Metcalf Ave., features all 10 collections, including two that launched in April — the Brooks (modern) and the Winnie (teak).

It offers Sunbrella performance fabrics in mostly neutral color choices. Customers can change up the look with a variety of Sunbrella throw pillows.

As businesses make the transition from the shelter-in-place order it will limit customers to two groups at a time.