John Welnack, Stuart Pase and Roger Zalaznik would like to help you straighten out your life.
Don`t worry. They`re not hawking Bibles or crystals or self-help books.
But they may try to sell you a shoe rack to keep your footwear in neat pairs, a plastic sock box to do the same for your hose or maybe a wire caddy that slips over the nozzle in your shower to give the shampoo bottle that keeps diving off the side of the tub a proper place.
They`re housewares retailers, albeit a bit more focused. Organization is their beat. They sell everything from hangers and hampers to spice racks and cardboard boxes that slide under the bed, shoving a heap of clutter out of sight.
”We make life easier. That`s our business,” said Stuart Pase, a former kitchen and bath retailer and now president of Neatables, one of the newest chains specializing in storage and organization products.
In these stressed-out times, ease is a precious commodity. Last year consumers spent a whopping $4.7 billion on organizational supplies, according to the National Housewares Manufacturers Association.
National chains such as Neatables, Spaces (run by Welnack and based in Downers Grove) and Zalaznik`s Organization Plus are all vying for this burgeoning market. Combined, the three have blasted the Chicago area with 14 stores and expect to sell more than $20 million worth of merchandise this year alone.
That`s a lot of sock boxes and shower caddies.
In a survey conducted by Better Homes & Gardens for Housewares, a trade journal, which asked consumers what housewares item they planned to purchase in 1990, it wasn`t a pastamaker, a food processor or a gas barbecue that got the most votes.
It was a closet storage system.
No wonder. Each day, Americans waste 79 million hours (the equivalent of 120 human lifetimes) looking for lost or misplaced objects, reports American Demographics, a magazine that tracks consumer trends.
”In the `80s, everybody was buying things,” said Jeffrey Mayer, a time- management consultant and author of ”If You Haven`t Got the Time to Do It Right, When Will You Find the Time to Do It Over?” (Simon & Schuster, $17.95). The fact that his book, a how-to on time management, hit the stores in late March and already is in its fifth printing is yet another signal that getting organized is ”in.”
”We were acquiring everything from Walkmans to BMWs,” he continued.
”Now we`re finding that, No. 1, it may not have been worth all the effort. No. 2, the question is, Where are we going to put all this?”
Where indeed. The combination of no space, more ”stuff” and less time to maintain it has made this an industry ripe to explode.
”The overwhelming reason that organization and, in particular, closet
(organization) has grown so much is that people are not moving,” said Welnack, president of Spaces.
”They`re not upgrading their houses as frequently as they were when we had the big run-ups in housing values 5, 6, 10 years ago,” he continued. ”I think people are trying to get more mileage out of the house they`re in, and a lot of times they can do that by making better use of the space they have as opposed to trading up to the next house.”
In other words, being organized is economical, not just for big-ticket items, like houses, but for smaller items, too. Who among us has not run out and bought a scarf or belt, only to find a similar item lurking in the dark corners of the closet?
Help is at hand
Organization products are designed to find some of those lost hours, items and sanity.
The choices include containers, boxes, baskets, bins, cabinets, crates, chests, drawers, trays and lockers, often stretching floor to ceiling. They`re made of cardboard, plastic, coated wire, wood and metal, wicker and even brass. Some are stackable, others are modular, all hold the promise of conquering clutter.
Shelving is plentiful, and it also is available in a choice of materials. Then there are the impulse items-all sorts of nifty accessories designed to unclog life`s little messes without costing a whole lot of money. These range from dividers that compartmentalize the inner sanctums of your dressers to a partitioned hamper-laundry bag that allows you to separate denim from lace with a mere flick of the wrist.
In spite of the fact that all the merchandise in these three stores is highly utilitarian, these are not drab hardware stores. They are generally orderly and attractive, making even such tedious chores as laundry look inviting.
For Bob and Sue Kust of the North Side, the closet department at Spaces was a must stop after Sue came home one day and found their bedroom closet in a heap on the floor.
”The shelf had totally fallen off the wall,” Bob said. The faulty shelf and pole system was just a little more than a year old. Clearly, a better solution was needed.
They bought a coated wire closet system as a replacement. The wire components are cut to your specifications right at the store. You take the pieces home with you, along with a set of instructions, and install your new closet.
”It`s a better organizer,” Bob said, noting that their ”new” walk-in closet is now an efficient honeycomb of single- and double-hung wire rods and shelves.
The couple also outfitted a basement storage room with a wire system composed mostly of shelving. Combined costs for the two closets: less than $500, according to Bob, who considers the expense a good investment.
In-store advice
Each of the three chains sells a coated wire closet system that salespeople will help design as a complimentary in-store service.
Installation, though, is up to you, and that`s where you save money.
It works like this: You bring in the measurements of your closet (length, depth and height) and a count of how many shirts, trousers, suits, skirts, dresses, shoes, hats and whatever else you keep there. The salesperson will then help you design a closet system that accommodates your needs in the space you have.
The retailers insist that everyone is capable of the installation, even the most clumsy do-it-yourselfer.
Nonetheless, by popular demand, both Spaces and Neatables recently added the option of installation, which tacks another 35 percent to 40 percent onto the price.
Though prices vary, depending on where you buy and how elaborate you get, a modest do-it-yourself system in coated wire for an 8-foot wall closet could cost as little as $100. Starting price for one of the custom closet companies to make over that same closet is about $450.
Though storage and organization products are not necessarily new, the fact that they`re being corralled into specialty stores is a concept that has just recently taken off.
Specialty stores come and go, but it seems that as long as space and time are in short supply, the organization business is here to stay.
Chicago area sources-Neatables: Arlington Heights, Naperville, Darien and Vernon Hills; Spaces: Downers Grove, Arlington Heights, Clybourn Corridor
(Chicago), Bloomingdale and Vernon Hills; Organization Plus: Orland Park, Downers Grove, Wheaton, Rolling Meadows, Buffalo Grove.
