A mother-daughter team runs Anaheim Patio & Fireside, which has expanded to three stores during more than five decades of selling outdoor furniture and other products.
Late founder Kurt Lorig immigrated to the United States in the late 1940s, having survived the Holocaust. Lorig, who told of arriving in this country with just a dollar to his name, would help out his brother-in-law, Art Cossid, at a furniture company that sold items for patios.
There wasn’t a big market for outdoor furniture at the time, but the duo had a dream to open a store to serve the niche. Together with their wives, the pair bought an old gas station in Anaheim and turned it into a retail store in 1956.
“That was a year after Disneyland opened in Anaheim,” said Phyllis Lorig, widow of the late Kurt Lorig and now president of the company.
Cossid left the company in the 1960s.
The Lorigs are now in their third generation.
Anaheim Patio still sells outdoor furniture for patios and pools. It has added fireplace products, barbeque tools and accessories. It has an 18,000-square-foot warehouse and corporate office in Brea.
The company buys its products from a number of manufacturers throughout the country, many of which are family-run businesses, said Bonnie Richins, Lorig’s daughter and general manager.
Anaheim Patio received the Small Business award at the 12th annual Family Owned Business Awards luncheon hosted by the Business Journal and California State University Fullerton’s Family Business Council on Nov. 30 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
The company—which has 26 full-time employees at stores in Huntington Beach, Irvine and Brea—rings up an estimated $7 million to $9 million in annual sales.
The original store in Anaheim closed in 1996 due to an expansion Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway.
“That’s when we opened the Irvine location,” Lorig said.
She recalled the early days of the business vividly, especially the makeover of the old gas station in Anaheim.
“Pulling weeds and painting—I remember all too well,” she said.
It wasn’t long before a housing boom sparked by the opening of Disneyland brought a bunch of new homeowners.
“Anaheim was developing a tremendous bedroom community at the time,” Richins said. “Young families were looking for things to put in their backyards. And what we sold wasn’t expensive.”
Richins began working at the store at
age 12, sweeping up and handling other odd jobs. Her son, Gregg Richins, is now part of the family business after years of working summers and holidays while he was in college.
Ups and Downs
Anaheim Patio has gotten through the ups and downs of the overall economy throughout the decades.
“One of the first challenges was that there wasn’t a big variety in what you’d call ‘outdoor furniture’ back then,” Lorig said. “Raw aluminum, painted iron chairs—just yellow and green, and redwood picnic tables. That’s all we started with.”
The company grew, opening its Huntington Beach store in 1974.
“Business was pretty good because Huntington Beach was just starting to grow then,” Richins said. “Then we opened the Brea one in the late 1980s.”
The recent economic downturn has been tough.
“The last three years, the economy to run a business was extremely challenging,” Richins said.
Motto Remains
Kurt Lorig passed last year, but his motto in running the business is still part of the management.
“Dad was always honest with people,” Richins said. “A business is a repeat business, and generations have continued to shop with us.”
The family attributes its longevity in large part to its many long-time employees, some with more than 30 years on the job.
The company has never had layoffs—and isn’t planning to start now.
“We set our goal to win the war against the economy,” Richins said. “It’s getting better. We hope for a more prosperous economy in 2012.”
