The SCORE on startups: Bill Bohlin
by Glenn RittDeborah Skinner is the retiree who won’t retire.
As soon as she left New York City for the Cape, she took a job at the Christmas Tree Shops, applying a lifetime of retail experience that had taken her around the world. “I really wasn’t looking to work, but I got bored,” she confessed.
Now, in her 60s, she is devoting herself to helping others – like Bill Bohlin. In his 50s, he is venturing into retail for the first time after two decades as a regional marketing manager. Last year, he opened Shoreline Interiors in East Harwich.
Together, Skinner and Bohlin are designing a business model that not only reflects their particular talents and viewpoints, but also addresses emerging demographic trends on the Cape that will have a profound impact on the economy. Uppermost on their radar is the opportunity to serve the rapidly expanding second-home market.
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Skinner’s resume is a hidden currency for Cape Cod. She doesn’t have a storefront or shingle. She may be counted officially as a retiree. But she is applying extraordinary knowledge and experience gained over a lifetime to spur local business growth and inspire new entrepreneurs. In most cases, her clients at SCORE represent year-round enterprises and new business models.
Moreover, Skinner is a role model for businesswomen, a fast-growing group on Cape Cod. When she began work 40 years ago, she confronted constant gauntlets because of her gender; yet she persevered and eventually became one of the foremost merchandise executives for Federated Stores, owners of Macy’s, Bloomingdales and other department store chains.
“When I first entered the job market, my resume said ‘D.A. Skinner,’” she recalled. “If it said ‘Deborah,’ chances were I would not get an interview.” At that time, she was attempting to secure a position in business. But after constant rejections – and running low on money – Skinner decided to get a job selling men’s ties.
That changed her life profoundly. She was immediately recruited for the executive training program and six months later became the youngest buyer in Cleveland. By 1975, right after President Richard Nixon went to China and initiated historic trade relations, Skinner found herself among the first 75 American merchants invited to Canton to develop relationships for Federated as its first buyer ever in that nation.
A year later she moved to Hong Kong to cover the Far East, and convinced her bosses to open an office in China. “I had to move quickly because Bloomingdale’s wanted to have the first-ever showing of Chinese merchandise.” Soon, she was buying in excess of $1 million of Chinese products.
At that time, Mao Tse-Tung still ruled the nation, and Skinner was surrounded by the regime’s brutality and repression. She needed two passports so she could work both on the mainland and in Taiwan, which was a strong market as well.
Eventually, Skinner became Federated’s director of overseas operations, traveling six to nine months a year around the globe from her New York City headquarters.
“I fell in love with merchandising,” she said. “It was instinctive. I knew what to buy. I had to design and develop home furnishings. I had an artist who traveled with me to interpret immediately what I conceived. I had a strong understanding of color and design. I was very lucky.”
As valuable as that experience is to Bohlin, it is matched by Skinner’s second career as her own boss. Eventually tiring of the travel, she decided to open up a retail store as an original tenant at South Street Seaport in New York City. She specialized in decorative home furnishings, housewares and gifts.
That meant 60- to 75-hour work weeks, staying open 10 hours a day, 364 days a year. At the same time, she somehow found time to volunteer at an organization called The Momentum AIDS Project. So moved by the outreach, Skinner eventually sold her store and became the full-time director of development, bringing in a $300,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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It’s no wonder Bohlin feels so fortunate connecting with Skinner, who has served as chair of SCORE, guiding its financial development, fundraising and curriculum for clients. When she first came on board, it was counseling 685 clients; now, the number is 850 and climbing. With that growth comes the need to recruit five more volunteer executives.
Bohlin explained: “I had an idea in my head for a new concept for furnishings and home products. I went to SCORE and had appointments to discuss philosophy, where I wanted to be, what I wanted to sell – and see what they thought.
“I was ready to take their advice to heart. Had I gone in with my plan and they said, ‘Forget it,’ or ‘Change directions,’ I probably would not have continued. But I received a thumbs-up across the board, so I proceeded.”
Bohlin had grown up in a local family business – Cape Cod Paper Products in Dennis, living in a house next door to the warehouse. “We had so many cases of cups and napkins in our living room, we had to tunnel upstairs sometimes,” he laughed.
He eventually took over the business with a brother, but Bohlin realized it was not his life’s calling. He sold his share and took a job with Perkins restaurant supply company of Taunton, where he stayed for 16 years, putting in tens of thousands of miles on the road, traveling across New England.
As happy as he was, the thought of owning his own retail business nagged at him. And after a lifetime surrounded by restaurant supplies, Bohlin knew he wanted to sell an entirely different line of products – furniture and home accessories.
“The one thing I decided: Don’t be a me-too company,” he recalled. “There is nothing wrong with Barbo’s or Sid’s or Jordan’s. But I wanted to go after a different clientele. Even before leaving Perkins, I took time off to visit North Carolina manufacturers and furniture shows. I lived online.”
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Among the first paybacks working with SCORE was Bohlin’s choice of location. Initially, he coveted Chatham, but there was no available space for the size showroom he envisioned. Eventually, he found an attractive site in East Harwich near the intersection of routes 39 and 137.
“One space was twice what I wanted, but it was facing the street. SCORE counseled against going overboard; so I eventually decided to take a location toward the back. It was still visible from the road, its rent was much less – and as it turned out, it was easier for trucks to unload merchandise.”
That eclectic merchandise now includes several specialty brands, including Simon Pierce hand-blown glass and pottery. It’s so popular that he has placed its logo with his road sign. “I also try to carry furniture lines you don’t find anywhere else on the Cape. Furniture from Sweden, linens from Italy, a lot of solid cherry furniture from Charlie Shackletown and Vermont Clock Company products. A line of towels I sell is made from bamboo.”
“I do all the buying myself. I buy what I really like. I try to sell things that people can’t get anywhere else. Everything I sell has a story to tell, and I try to tell those stories to customers. That philosophy has worked well.”
Bohlin also has begun purchasing handwoven rugs from Tibet after he met the producer, who lives in Vermont. “His company includes the sheep and shepherds. He will actually come to the Cape with his weaver who is visiting from Tibet.” When a customer is interested in the rugs, Bohlin is able to tell the entire story about the product.
Now, Bohlin is planning to move Shoreline Interiors to his original hometown of Dennis. It’s all part of his evolution to combine business with community. He discovered property right on Route 6A that includes a classic antique home with a large barn now used as an art gallery.
Bohlin envisions decorating both buildings with his products and merchandise, while also managing to more efficiently combine the costs of business and home life. And he gets to work where he lives – not to mention the very lively customer traffic that characterizes Dennis village during the spring, summer and fall.
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This all is music to Skinner’s ears. She is impressed with Bohlin’s business model and encourages his eclectic tastes. She also is taken by his decision to wear a shirt and tie every day.
“A lot of people ask me why I dress up,” said Bohlin. “I do it to separate myself. If you dress first-class, customers consider your establishment first-class.”
About 60 percent of those customers, he noted, are second-home owners, who represent half of all the houses in the towns surrounding his business. “They come to the Cape and decide they not only need new furniture, but want their second home to be nothing like their first one. Plus, they rarely look at price. They see things they really like, and they buy them.”
With second-home owners in mind, Bohlin is open all day every Saturday and Sunday, including during the winter. He’s noticed that many customers are visiting him as they are leaving the Cape after a weekend here. In some cases, they purchase furniture for delivery not here, but at their homes off-Cape. His manufacturers ship directly from their factories, he explained, making this process easier.
This off-Cape clientele – reinforced by Shoreline Interior’s Web site, which drives 10 percent of his sales, and growing – now includes customers who order his furniture from one home in California for delivery at another home in New Jersey.
Bohlin also has established a design consultancy and hired an expert to serve clients. “Many of them don’t know what they want. She goes to their home to help. We charge for her time, but she makes a commission for sales rather than just an hourly wage.” It provides another cash stream to supplement retail sales, which need to average about $1,000 a day.
Beyond his design consultant, Bohlin employs only a part-time salesperson. He spends all his time on the floor.
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Skinner’s biggest contribution to Shoreline Interiors is the encouragement she gives Bohlin. “Sure, I had my idea,” Bohlin said. “But to sit with a retired executive who has a lifetime of experience in merchandising has been invaluable. With help from other executives, we have addressed the building’s location and size, allocations for rent, financing, development of a business plan.”
That included discussions about whether Bohlin should sell a second home he used for extra income to finance Shoreline Interiors. Rather than take on debt to purchase inventory, he chose to sell the property and use the proceeds to finance the store. “They agreed with that, and I took their advice. Now I know everything in the showroom is mine.”
Said Skinner: “He has a high-risk business. By self-financing it, he avoids high interest costs that he would have to pay regardless of whether he sells merchandise or not. It protects him from a sudden downturn in sales for reasons that may be beyond his control.”
It also turned out to be a smart decision since Bohlin sold the house prior to the recent downturn in home prices.
That downturn, somewhat to his surprise, has not severely impacted the business. Bohlin ascribes this partially to his strong second-home customer base. That may also explain why his December sales were virtually the same as August’s. Second-home owners are visiting the Cape year-round. Over the last six months of last year, sales were up 40 percent from the same period in 2005.
Another surprise: How much more it costs to run a business than you expect, he said. “The biggest mental adjustment I have made is not getting fixated on a single day. I may experience five slow days in a row and then experience a huge day. I need to see the big picture. It’s a lot more encouraging when I look at it that way.”
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One way Skinner can assess Bohlin’s progress: “I visit him often to annoy him, but also because I love the store.”
If Bohlin can have one do-over, it probably would be the store’s name. He realized it did not instantly signal that he sold furniture as well as provide design consultation. He’s building that theme now into his advertising.
It underscores one of Skinner’s most important pieces of advice: Keep options open. “Just don’t say, ‘Here is my game plan and stick with it.’ Keep an open mind.”
Bohlin returns Skinner’s compliments. “I had lot of friends who thought I was nuts. ‘You should be thinking of retiring,’ they said. SCORE gave me the impetus. I give SCORE a big pat on the back. In fact, I would love to be a SCORE volunteer when I retire finally.”
Published in Cape Business July/August 2007
Glenn Ritt Glenn Ritt is editor and co-publisher of Cape Business Publishing LLC. He is the former publisher of Cape Cod Community Newspapers and editor of The Bergen Record in New Jersey. 
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