Yahoo Finance ‘Our own little Mayberry’: Budget Blinds credits success to its downtown location
After more than two decades in business, family-owned Budget Blinds of Lee’s Summit is still going strong thanks to its downtown storefront and community involvement.
“This location is the backbone to our success,” said Courtney Laufketter, vice president of sales and marketing as well as a third-generation employee.
“We have always described downtown Lee’s Summit as our own little Mayberry. Living and working downtown makes it feel like a small town. Even with over 100,000 people, you will always run into someone you know.”
Laufketter’s grandparents and parents — Richard and Gloria Guthrie, and Jim and Debbie Stoddard — purchased a Budget Blinds franchise 22 years ago.
“My dad was a dealer rep for different building products, and we were moving around a lot as kids,” she said. “My grandpa had retired early and wanted to move up to be near us. With my dad’s experience, and my mom’s college focus of interior design they settled on this franchise and the rest, as they say, is history.”
The Budget Blinds national company was founded in 1992 in California. The business, which includes nearly 1,500 franchise territories throughout North America, specializes in incorporating home interior features such as blinds, shades, shutters and drapery. Custom design team members work with customers.
“We bought into the franchise in 2002 and worked most of the KC area at the time,” she said. “Over the years, surrounding territories were purchased and now there are 11 franchises in the KC metro area.”
Since buying into the franchise, the family’s Budget Blinds business has been located in four storefronts in downtown Lee’s Summit, as well as a few early years in Richard and Gloria Guthrie’s basement. Laufketter said they are now in their “current and forever location” at 239 S.E. Main St.
Over the years, window treatment trends have changed, and Laufketter said the local business originally began selling just 2-inch blinds, later moving into more specialty treatments.
“Everything we do is custom and has always been custom,” she said, “but we have grown into more customization over the years. From automation, to color, to texture, everything can be adjusted to fit exactly what you are looking for in your home or business.”
A recent trend in the industry is incorporating layers in window treatments by including blinds underneath draperies or layered draperies, Laufketter said.
Family members currently involved in the business are Laufketter, her parents and her sister, Taylor Kistler. Their business owns three of the territories in the area and operates two showrooms.
Although combining family and work can be challenging, the Budget Blinds owners have found that having an office away from the home environment can be helpful.
Having a separate location and switching from being an in-home business to an office-based business was a “big game changer,” she added. “When we are doing family stuff we try not to talk about work. Of course it will come up but the less it does the better.”
An additional family member, who has worked at Budget Blinds for several years, can be relied on to never talk about business at family events. Burt Macklin, listed on the company’s website as a customer service representative, works out of the showroom, usually taking it easy on one of his chairs.
“Burt is our head of customer service,” said Laufketter about her canine co-worker. “He is a big crowd-pleaser and always up for a party. We are so lucky to have him. He will be 10 years old this December.”
Within the Lee’s Summit community, Budget Blinds is involved in a number of charitable organizations. Laufketter has organized Hope House’s 12ish Bars of Christmas fundraising pub crawl for 10 years. The event has raised more than $200,000 for the domestic violence shelter during this time.
“We also support Coldwater, Habitat for Humanity, KC Pet Project and the Salvation Army with many events,” she said, adding that the business donates blinds to veterans homes organizations.
This summer, the local business is sponsoring the 2024 Music in the Park Concert Series, offered free at the downtown Lee’s Summit Howard Station Park. The concerts take place on the fourth Friday of each month May through August.
“The biggest secret is community,” said Laufketter when asked about the company’s continued growth over more than two decades. “We would not be around if it were not for the communities that we are a part of every day supporting us and helping us grow.”
