Barefoot Casual Furniture: Family Sells to Family
By Bruce Collier December1, 2005 Issue

John L. and Allison Rash Miller, owners of Barefoot Casual Furniture in Miramar Beach, are sharing the workload this Saturday morning. After both have opened the store, Allison will deal with customers, and John will go dove hunting. Allison is fine with this. She and John are among those favored folk that love what they do. Not dove hunting, but selling high quality casual and recreational furniture to a widening circle of area residents and visitors.

Allison comes from Memphis. She grew up in her father’s retail business, selling and servicing much the same stock she and John sell here, and has a degree in design from Lambuth University in Jackson, Tenn. John, a Destin native and veteran of the Navy, has a retail background himself. Also working at the store is John’s stepfather, Clarke H. Williams.

John poses for a photo with Wesley, the Millers’ 10-year-old son. Another son, 13-year-old Blake, is at home today. Barefoot Casual has been in this location since February of 2005. Getting the building in proper shape for a business was a challenge, but “we’re here to stay,” says Allison. The Millers plan further progress, in “baby steps.”

Barefoot Casual Furniture sits in a spacious, warehouse-like building, tucked between a busy stretch of U.S. Highway 98 and the beach road. The entrance door opens out onto a patio, covered with tables and chairs. The effect is that of being the first guest to arrive at a party, an effect not diminished upon entry.

Inside, the merchandise is grouped into comparably welcoming areas. Tables, chairs, lamps, umbrellas and shiny grills, representing some 25 product lines, are clustered together or arranged along the walls. In keeping with the party theme, one table is stacked with bags of scented wood for the grill, and jars of house-blended barbecue rubs and seasonings.

John and Allison are barbecue mavens, and John is a member of a traveling team competing nationally in contests of barbecue excellence. One area of the store is devoted to a display of trophies. Allison notes that this is only part of the collection. “The other trophies travel with the team.”

Though stocked with decorative items, Barefoot Casual is not an art gallery, nor is any of the furniture the kind one would call formal. “We carry a full line of casual furniture for the home,” says John, “wood, wicker, rattan, indoor and outdoor.” Also in stock are candles, glassware, and all manner of festive paraphernalia. The Millers prefer to avoid a pre-packaged look, as is the case with some other establishments. “We don’t do decorating ‘kits,’” says John. “We offer more.”

This attitude carries over into other aspects of Barefoot’s business. “We want customers to know they’re dealing with the owners personally, with the family,” says John. After sales, the Millers do delivery and setup themselves, free of charge, and post-sale service is likewise personalized. “We’re not competing with any of the big-box stores,” says Allison.

The casual furniture business is a relatively recent retail niche. Born in the early 1980s, it has grown at a modest rate into a respectable, collegial piece of the American business pie. “It’s small and specialized,” says Allison, “we all know each other.” The Millers travel yearly to a casual furniture trade fair at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. “Chicago is the home of casual furniture,” she says. In addition to working at the store, and the occasional dove hunt, John is an active member of a national board of directors for the casual furniture industry.

Though special orders don’t upset them, the Millers try to avoid being a “showroom” furniture business. Unlike other businesses that simply take orders on display items, “everything we have on the floor is not locked down,” says John.

John excuses himself and heads off to the hunt. Allison sits behind the counter, pointing out a photo on the wall. In the picture is Wesley, smiling and gingerly holding up a small green and yellow frog. “That’s our family colors,” she says, as well as the inspiration for the store’s frog logo. As for the name, the Millers felt that it “speaks volumes of this area.”

“I’m always barefoot,” says Allison. Looking down at her tennis-shod feet, she adds, “until I broke my foot.”

Barefoot Casual Furniture is located at 390 S. Geronimo Street in Miramar Beach. The telephone number is 654-5347.

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