A 25 Year Journey From a Suwanee Shack to a Super-sized Showroom!
By: Rachel Pillow
In November of 1990, Jim and Cathy Hillman started a commercial tile installation business called “Ceramic Services” in Suwanee. 25 years later the Hillmans have come a long way from the “shack next to a lumberyard,” as they described it. Now known as Hillman Flooring & Design, the “shack” has since grown into a 10,000 square foot showroom and full-service commercial & residential flooring installation and interior design company.
When the Hillmans started the business they were the first tile installation company to set up shop in North Gwinnett. Today, the local competition has heightened, but so has their reputation as a leader in the industry. They built their first store on Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road, then moved to their current location on Peachtree Industrial just three years later as they quickly began to outgrow their original space. The Hillmans truly seem to have their pulse on the industry, adapting and evolving as the industry does.
“We started as a tile company because there was a need in the marketplace,” said Jim. “Nobody was doing tile in North Gwinnett, for the builders,” he said. Continuing to follow the demand, they added to their list of commercial services, by selling and installing carpeting, hardwood and eventually all types of flooring. But in 2005 when the builder market died, Jim and Cathy Hillman had to reevaluate their business model again. “We decided to stay in the commercial sector and work with what little builder business was out there at the time, but made a major transformation and focus on retail in 2006,” explained Jim. Investing half a million dollars into their new façade on Peachtree Industrial, changing the name from “Ceramic Services” to “Hillman Flooring and Design” and building an impressive showroom from the bottom up has certainly paid off for them. “Now, retail is 50% of business and that’s huge for us! We went from being a builder-services company to full-service with retail, residential, remodeling design, and walk-in sales,” said Cathy.
More importantly though, “the biggest reason for changing the name of the company is that we wanted our clientele to know that we are family-owned and named; and that they are working directly with us, not some kind of corporately-owned business,” said Jim. Those words certainly ring true for the Hillmans. “All three of our children have played an active role in the company at some point in their lives,” added Cathy. Their son, David Hillman, is a leader in builder sales. “I grew up running around the warehouse,” he said, “we all did!” His brother and sister, Michael and Elise, are no longer full-time employees but still remain involved with the business in other ways. “It’s the most challenging, but also the most rewarding thing, to work right alongside your family,” said David.
It took some trial and error for Jim’s career path to switch from corporate identity to a family-focused business. In the 1980’s he was in the international corporate sector, at one of the top manufacturers and distributors of ceramic tile in the world. The Hillmans were living in Orlando at the time, but Jim was spending five days a week out of town, and at least 3-4 days a week making connecting flights in Atlanta. “I hated being away from my family…it got to the point where it just made sense to move the family to Georgia so I could at least see them during extended layovers or delays,” he said. The Hillmans ventured to Atlanta over 26 years ago, at a point when Suwanee was just a cute little town. “We were looking for homes in the Metro Atlanta area and started in Cobb County. But somebody had told us to stay on 120…so we drove all the way around and ended up in Suwanee. Immediately, there was just something about it that we both fell in love with,” Cathy said. After moving themselves and their three young children to the developing City of Suwanee, the Hillmans built a home and soon after, a business that has guided their family’s future.
While Jim jumped headfirst into growing a solid network in North Gwinnett, Cathy went back to school for design, knowing full well that the flooring industry would be headed in that direction. “It was extremely difficult with one kid in preschool, one in elementary and one in middle, but she did it!” bragged Jim. “We both knew that the future was interior design and it wasn’t just about white or almond 4×4 tiles anymore,” Cathy explained. And Hillman Flooring & Design’s complimentary design consultation services have proven to be one of the most important services for their clients. While a lot of customers will come into the store with an idea of what they want, they often end up leaving it in the hands of the Hillman team who will customize and choose options based on each client’s unique space and budget. Websites like Pinterest are great as a place to start brainstorming; but the Hillman’s insist on (and their client’s contest to) the fact that the best inspiration truly comes from physically walking through the showroom. “Conceptually, the whole purpose is to give people a great idea of what it really will look like in person. We have over 20 vignettes in this showroom: from bathroom spaces to kitchen to fireplaces and we are expanding to include an outdoor patio, deck, grill and fireplace showroom,” said Jim. Yes, they are even selling the highly sought after Kamodo grills now. It truly is becoming a one-stop shop for remodelers or any new homeowner.
Keeping current with the industry and the demands therein is the only way to continue to succeed. “It’s because they have these,” said Jim – pointing to his cell phone. “They have access to everything at their fingertips, so we have to make sure that we’re smarter than the customer,” he continued. Ongoing education is monumentally important. “And it’s not even about knowing the trends,” said Cathy. Trends can be fun too, she explained, but it’s about knowing what is going to last and still look amazing in the long-run – especially when the client is making such a big investment into their home. It is exactly that mentality which makes the Hillmans and their experienced team a business that Suwanee residents and surrounding cities have wanted to work with for 25 years now, and will continue to trust.
