Creative Concepts celebrated its birthday on Feb. 1, and founding father Wayne Lednum took time out to explain how their home furnishing store had managed to thrive for the past 32 years.
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Jeanne Mueller shows off some fo the furnishings at Creative Concepts.
“If you don’t count banks, lawyers and real estate — we’re probably the oldest retailers around,” he said.
However, the economy wasn’t always as hot as it is now, and Lednum admitted it hadn’t always been easy. “For four of five months you saw people, and the rest of the year you starved to death,” he said.
Lednum said many people kept one shop here, and one in Florida, closing one up to head south for the winter every year.
However, with three school-aged sons, the family elected to stay in one place year round.
Lednum met his future bride, Bobbi, in Ocean City (Md.) while he was still in college.
He joined the Army shortly thereafter, and they were married during that period.
It wasn’t long before their first son, Craig, came along, and Lednum recalled the $5 hospital bill for the delivery — “That’s one good thing we got out of the service,” he quipped.
At age 30, with three children now (sons Steve and Scott had arrived during the interim), Lednum returned to Maryland.
He joined corporate America, spending eight years with Montgomery Ward and worked his way up from department manager to merchandise manager at one of Ward’s biggest stores, in Washington, D.C.
Lednum said he’d earned a good deal of experience as a buyer, which had carried over well into the Creative Concepts venture.
“I loved the job, because mentally, it was very challenging,” he said. “I didn’t like the politics of corporate America, though.”
The department store was in good health when he left it, but declined several years later and shut down completely in 2000, after 128 years in the business.
Lednum blamed a weakness in management, and noted how many people had been hurt by the closings.
However, he didn’t seem overly surprised. Just as giants like Ward’s and A&P had gone the way of the dinosaurs, Lednum didn’t express much confidence in massive operations — not even the preeminent Wal-Mart.
“Little business can always beat big business,” he stated. “That’s why I love to come to work here — in the corporate world, there are too many layers, too many committees.”
In contrast, when the Lednums decided to build a new warehouse in Frankford last year, they just went ahead and did it.
“Here, we can make things happen — we can make bold moves,” he pointed out.
With that philosophy in hand, the family moved to the beach (Ocean City), and started their own family venture, in South Bethany.
Creative Concepts opened in the York Beach Mall in 1973, with 1,200 square feet of showroom.
They focused mainly on draperies and accessories in those days.
Now, they feature all manner of furniture, for bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms and bathrooms.
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Joyce Manion and Erin Crum are designers with over 4,000 fabric swatches to choose from at Creative Concepts.
Creative Concepts specializes in beach, cottage and transitional furniture, and once customers find a style they like, they can choose from different finishes or over 4,000 different fabrics to cover it.
The Lednums have two stores (one in Millville, behind the Millville Emergency Center, the other in Lewes), 10,000 square feet apiece, and 30 employees.
Lednum said his wife, Bobbi, had been with him in business from the very start, and his sons had been going to market with them practically since they were babies.
“They’d come with us whenever we couldn’t find a babysitter,” he pointed out.
All three joined the business, and all three still work for Creative Concepts today, along with numerous other family members.
His oldest son, Craig, was on the floor Feb. 1, and described the dynamic. “We get along really well,” he said. “I know what’s expected of me — he doesn’t even have to say it.”
Lednum said all three of his sons did design work for the company, in addition to their management duties.
Elsewhere around the store, Lednum’s cousin, Carolyn Bailey, worked on payroll, daughter-in-law Gail shuffled through paint samples and Craig’s fiancée, Elizabeth, tapped at a computer in one of the offices.
Lednum showed no favoritism, though, introducing the employees as if every one of them were a member of the family.
“It takes a team effort,” he pointed out. “Every successful organization depends on a successful team — the job for management is just keeping them focused on the organization, and then that makes the day go.”
The Lednums moved to Fenwick Island in the mid-1980s, and their sons all have homes in Fenwick, too.
They have five grandchildren (four boys, one girl) and recently, a great-grandson, but Lednum is still going strong.
“I’ve reached the point in my life where I can retire — but I’m not going to retire,” Lednum said. “I like the business, I like to come to work, I like the staff — it’s challenging, and it’s fun.”
After 32 years in home furnishings, that’s saying something.