We were lucky to catch up with Brad Rushing recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brad, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.
My father started California Designs in 1979 in Boca Raton, fl. His core values have always been to supply a quality product with exceptional service. In the early 80’s through today our mission was to source the newest design trends from around the world and bring them to our clients. He always cherished growing a lasting relationship with our clients which has shown to be very valuable. This has helped with repeat business over the years and great networking opportunities.

in 1991, My father decided to move the business north and we found our home in North Palm Beach, Fl, Keeping our showroom near the ocean and always having our address on US highway 1, we have grown to specialize in high end beach front private residences. Our main target markets are Builders and Designers but we are open to the public.

I (Brad rushing) started working with my father after collage and grew to love the industry. Graduating with a small business and Entrepreneurship degree; as well as owning prior small businesses, I was familiar with the business aspect of the company. Over time, Working with the best builders and designers from around the world, I have developed an eye for design.

My father recently passed (12/7/21) away from brain cancer. Right after he was diagnosed in late 2019, I was rushed into the driver seat as owner of the company. The beginning of the following year, Covid19 arose with its own obstacles. though very trying at times, with my staff/family, we made it through the struggle and have now rose to new level in the business. We decided to implement strategies used by larger corporations to help grow our business while remaining to keep our core values and mission or growing lasting relationships with our clients and suppling them with the newest design trends and highest quality products and services.

We are now on our 43rd year of business and looking forward to another 43 years.

Brad, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
As I Touched on in the previous questions. We are a small family owned business of 43 years. We specialized in high end residential homes. My father previously ran a company that hosted events for artists and singers like the doobie brothers and the Eagles. After College he and another colleague saw an opportunity to get into the decorative supply business and the rest is history.

My father started out supplying carpeting, vertical blinds and wood plantation shutters. We now carry hardwood flooring manufactures from around the world with a special focus on our family owned Italian and Spanish (Spain) flooring manufactures. Upon visiting their mills, My father saw similar core values and love for the industry like we have. We also now specialize in carpet, area rugs and all kinds of window fashions, including custom drapery.

What I would like my new clients to know about our company. Our core focus is to supply our clients with the newest and highest quality design trends from around the world and to focus on growing a lasting relationship with our clients by offering the highest quality service possible.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
One story I like to tell refers back to how we like to grow lasting relationships with our clients. In the business it can be competitive. A designer who uses another supplier reach out to my company asking for an additional quote for shades for the client was not liking the prices from the company she uses often. She had also asked that I make the price higher so the company she uses looks more desirable. At first I didn’t want anything do to with this because I felt it was poor business but something drove me to proceed. The clients received our bid and looked at our company name. He remembered us from a prior project we did with them from 20 years ago. The next day, He called me directly and told us that he remembered how professional we were and how much he enjoyed doing business with us in the past. Needless to say he ended up choosing our company for the project. The bonus to this story is the Builder doing their renovation is one of the most highly regarded builders in the county. He loved how we operated and satisfied the client. We have now grown to be very successful business partners and friends.

Have you ever had to pivot?
In 2019 when I (Brad Rushing) Became the owner of the company. My father was just diagnosed with Brain Cancer and was not able to work anymore. He was a working owner who ran ever facet of our company. So losing him in the company at the time was very tough on the business. We were able to crew up correctly and carry on. The beginning of the following year COVID19 broke out and it almost closed our business. At the time, we were at a location that was 10,000 sq ft. and very costly to maintain. Luckily that summer our lease was up and we were about to pivot to another location just down the road. In turned out that our new location became more profitable and we have grown to like it much more.

during the Covid shut down we were able to regroup and look into the business more thoroughly. We decided to adopt strategies used from larger corporations while still keeping our core values and missions. This has allowed us to grow exponentially.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.californiadesigns.com
• Instagram: californiadesignspalmbeach
• Facebook: californiadesigncenter

Image Credits
Kelsey Rushing (lady in picture) with My Father (Ernie Rushing) Picture infront of company van, David Rodio, Brad rushing, David Delahunt Scene photos credit to Keating Moore construction and Studio Riverside Design Group