52 Business View Magazine - October 2016
distributing grills that I make. So, I touch all three as-
pects of the entire business.”
In addition to Hackley’s early use of the internet, Shop-
persChoice has also benefitted from the changes in
the country’s economic landscape over the last sev-
eral years:
“Ten years ago, the only people who were building
outdoor kitchens were the people out in Vegas and
California. When the downturn happened, it created a
need for people to have to stay home instead of going
on vacations. So, then, all of a sudden, they start do-
ing these ‘staycations.’ ‘We’re not going to spend the
money on a vacation - we’re going to go ahead and
get a grill, or a pool, or upgrade our landscaping and
we’re going to create a family environment. Our back-
yard is our Disneyland.’ And that has taken off, and to-
day, that is our biggest-growing category – the outdoor
kitchen arena, just because more people are staying
home, spending time with family and creating these
staycations.
Already a very successful business owner and entre-
preneur, Hackley says that he has no plans to slow
down, now: “I’m still inventing stuff. I have a couple of
products that are coming out that are going to change
the industry that I have patents on for Blaze. I love in-
venting and making products and I love selling prod-
ucts. What I’ve learned is that if you build it yourself
and sell it yourself, you’re going to make more money.
That’s where the grills came from. Now we design pa-
tio furniture and we put it under our own name and
trademark it. I’m in the middle of buying a fireplace
company. I’m going to come out with my own fireplace
gas logs, fireplaces, fire pits, fire glass, and fire rings.
I have some Blaze cookware coming out. You have to
come out with your own brands to stay competitive,
online.”
Finally, Hackley has this advice for other businesspeo-
ple, regardless of the products they sell:
“If you are a storefront, you must have an internet site.
And you must invest in your technology to move for-
ward because the internet is a living, breathing organ-
ism and you have to keep up with the technologies if
you want to succeed. You have to step up your game
on customer service. Because of the internet, in this
day and time, customers are demanding more than
they’ve ever demanded from a brick and mortar. So,
don’t fight the internet; grasp the internet. It’s here to
