Recently we were contacted about doing an article on RICH LTD POP Displays in the Union Tribune. Here it is...

Company's best work on display at a store near you    

Its retail merchandise units can be simple or custom-made

by Emily Vizzo

Retail Stores often try to choreograph the path of customers through their wares, presenting shoppers on routine errands to purchase dog food, motor oil or flip-flops with tempting, artfully placed displays. 

Jim Hollen, president of Rich Limited in Oceanside, helps companies attractively present merchandise with retail display units ranging from simple wire racks for stacking baseball caps to custom designs promoting a brand's image.

Wood accents and curved panels might reflect one brand's dedication to handcrafted, eco-friendly products, while a sleek black tower with silk-screened photographs might better represent a trendy company.

"Usually we're designing things from scratch," Hollen said. "When it comes down to it, it has to look good, it has to draw the customer in, and it has to fit in the budget."

 The company serves 3,500 customers internationally, with clients including Nike, Petco, Napa Auto Parts, and Babies-R-Us. In 2008, Inc.com ranked Rich Limited within its 5,000 fastest-growing companies, noting a jump in revenue from $2 million in 2004 to $5.8 million in 2007.

Hollen credits growth to a shifted focus from stock displays to custom designs, inexpensive overseas manufacturing, and services to manage different production stages.

Originally from New Jersey, Hollen moved to San Diego County in 2000. He studied business administration at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania before earning an MBA from Stanford University in 1984.

The Rancho Santa Fe resident worked with management consulting McKinsey & Co. from 1984 to 1991, before moving to health information company Access Health for a five-year executive stint, he said.

With brother Ken Hollen, he co-founded Icon Health, which Netscape co-founder James Clark bought and eventually merged into WebMD Corp.; and ChannelPoint Inc., which specialized in streamlining and automating the health insurance industry.

The latter grew to 1,600 employees, and Hollen filed to take the company public in March 2000, just before the market crashed.

"We never got out," Hollen said. "We missed the window. That was a big swing and a miss. After that Internet experience, I really wanted to do something that was 'real.' "

Hollen said he looked into about 100 companies before deciding to purchase Rich Limited, then base in Chatsworth. Hollen said he liked that it had been around for 15 years, had a large potential market and had the competitive advantage of a manufacturing base in China.

Hollen jokes that the nights he spent sleeping on an inflatable mat at his new office were "very character-building." But he was serious about redesigning the company, he said.

"I fired everyone, hired a brand-new team and really just restarted the company," Hollen said. "It was a low-end kind of business, with wire racks-- very sort of old-fashioned, no voice-mail or Web site."

He established a design team, opened an office in China to better monitor manufacturing quality, expanded factory relationships from two to 15 factories, and established another manufacturing base in Vietnam, he said.

Custom designs now make up three-fourths of Rich Limited's business, Hollen said. After his sales team consults with clients, engineers render detailed designs for a sample product, Hollen said. Sample orders are air-freighted from China, and if approved, enter a roughly four-week production cycle.

Displays are sent directly to stores or to Rich Limited warehouse for stocking-- they recently filled sunglass displays for 1,100 Old Navy stores. Orders range from 100 units to more than 5,000, Hollen said.

Simple countertop displays might cost $6, while an interactive custom display might cost $1,200.

Customers are spending less during the recession. "They're placing smaller orders," Hollen said. "They're hedging. In a good economy, digital signage might be appealing. Now they're lower end; people's budgets are tight." But he still sees room for growth.

"In five years, we'd like to be a $20 million to $25 million company," Hollen said. "We have the infrastructure, and I'd like to see it in that size range. I just want to get better. That's kind of our biggest aspiration." 

When San Diego's The Honest Kitchen contracted with Rich Limited on a rush order for their natural dog food products, Chief Operating Officer Charlie Postins said he was impressed with Hollen's customer-service ethic.

Their initial prototypes needed tweaking, so Hollen quickly reworked them, Postins said.

"He knew there was going to be good business, despite this one small hiccup, so he went out of the way to make sure we were happy," Postins said. "We pride ourselves on our integrity, and we're dealing with someone with that same integrity. It was a natural fit."