Customer feedback indicated they would be interested in buying clothes tailored toward women—and there was space in her storefront on Louetta Road.
It was just one of many ways Dickinson learned to adapt her business to current trends while remaining a community store.
A Houston native, Dickinson and her husband returned to her hometown in the 1990s, settling in Cy-Fair to raise their family of three children. A University of Texas alumna, Suzanne said she has known since she was 7 years old that interior design is her calling.
Tragedy struck in 1995 when her husband died of leukemia, and Suzanne juggled raising the children while running Dickinson Interiors out of her home. Eventually, she decided to open a storefront, becoming the first tenant at Louetta Center in 1999.
“[Running the business] was consuming our house,” she said. “Now I had a nice place to meet with customers outside their homes. And it helped me too to have a separation of work and home.”
Dickinson said the business grew mainly through word of mouth, a model it still relies on today. Demand has only grown since she opened the store, as houses that were new when Dickinson Interiors opened became dated and in need of a refresh.
Other trends Dickinson has seen include a surge in home offices, kitchens and bathrooms as her clients adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“People couldn’t take big vacations, so they used their funds as an investment in their homes,” Dickinson said.
The business was also hit hard. Disruptions to supply chains have made it take longer for vendors to supply items such as appliances, lighting and furniture.
“Things that usually take six to eight weeks are taking 20-30 weeks,” Dickinson said. “It’s a nightmare.”
The business overhauled how it handled furniture commissions due to the constraints of the pandemic. Dickinson said previously, she took the customers’ specifications and ordered the furniture from an external vendor. Now, she has the furniture built by a local vendor in Houston.
When Dickinson meets with clients, she listens to what they want in their spaces before crafting a “game plan” for achieving their look. For larger-scale remodels of kitchens, bathrooms and homes, she visits the site before putting together a plan.
The scales of the projects she takes on can range from updating the look of the space with a lighter or darker finish or expanded cabinets to completely reorienting fixtures, such as shower stalls, windows and television cabinets.
“My personal style factors very little into the design,” Dickinson said. “It’s all about the client and their desires.”
Dickinson Interiors, 13040 Louetta Road, Ste. 252, Cypress. 281-370-1025. www.facebook.com/dickinsoninteriors
Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun. noon-5 p.m.
