He’s had to hire additional staff to meet the demand for his products and he anticipates that growth will continue on to next year and beyond. “Our expansion started with the trade mission to New England,” says Mr. Clark, owner of Ravenwood Stairways. He joined nine other Island business representatives for the two-day trade mission in October, co-ordinated jointly by federal and provincial government   gencies. Mr. Clark attended a half-dozen pre-arranged meetings with prospective clients. “Of those,” he recounts, “two were very interested and we’re now doing business with both of them. They are both stairway manufacturers.” Cooper Stairways of Fall River, Massachusetts,  ontracted Ravenwood Stairways to supply wooden spiral staircases. “So far this year,” reports Mr. Clark, “we’ve shipped 22 custom-made stairways to them.” Cooper Stairways has five retail outlets – three in Massachusetts and one each in Florida and Georgia. Ravenwood’s spiral  stairways feature prominently in their showrooms and are attracting a lot of attention from customers. Ravenwood’s other agreement resulting from the trade mission is with Van Millworks. Mr. Clark explains, that company is a “high end distributor throughout the New England area. We are supplying them with Victorian newel posts.”

He says Ravenwood has already shipped off four sizable newel post orders, accounting for more than 200 units being manufactured for retail south of the border. “And the orders keep coming,” Mr. Clark adds. “When the last order went out, they were already sold, so a rush is on to fill the next order.” Commenting on reaction from customers at both U.S. companies he deals with, Mr. Clark says, “it seems they’re very pleased  with our product.” As a result, he anticipates the volume of sales may well increase in the months and years ahead. To keep up with growing demand, Mr. Clark says his company’s workforce has already increased and adds, “we will probably double our number of employees this year compared to last year.” He adds, “and with further marketing, we expect to see even more growth.” While staffing has increased to five full-time  nd two part-time positions at the Alma shop, with a sixth full-time position in the offing, the need for additional shop space has also become  apparent.

“We’re expanding our shop area to facilitate the growth – to accommodate more of the processes we do,” says Mr. Clark. Ravenwood  urchases logs and rough-cut lumber, which is kilndried and planed on site as needed. Whenever possible, the green lumber is purchased locally, says Mr. Clark. He says oak remains the most popular choice of woods for posts and stairs, but birch is also gaining in demand. Likewise, maple and clear spruce are gaining in popularity. Last year saw about half of the products coming out of Ravenwood Stairways being manufactured with locally harvested wood. The newel posts, in particular, continue to be made primarily with local wood. Mr. Clark notes, too, that some of the   nelling

work for the posts is provided by Norm’s Carpentry of Kildare Capes. Mr. Clark attributes the success of his participation on the trade mission to the preparations he made prior to the trip. He went equipped with high-quality brochures in hand and a professionally developed web site to which he could direct prospective clients. In business for 13 years, Mr. Clark says growth in the local marketplace has been slow from the   ginning. “There hasn’t been much change,” he says, but adds, “we’re doing a re-design on our product for the local market.” He hopes to  ttract local consumers with pre-assemble stairways. It makes for a high-quality staircase without the increased cost and inconvenience involved  with building the stairs on site, explains Mr. Clark. “Subcontractors installing the stairway are in and out, quickly.” Even with the re- designed product, local market growth will likely be slow, explains Mr. Clark, but adds, “I think there’s opportunity for more growth in the  market south of the border.” 

Not only focused on sales in   the U.S., Mr. Clark has also taken his Victorian newel posts to a New Brunswick company where sales are paving  he way for Ravenwood’s products to reach further into the Atlantic Canada market. He adds, “Quebec and Ontario also offer opportunity for market expansion.” Mr. Clark says PEI Business Development encouraged him to participate in the trade mission, but doubts he would have  joined the team had it not been for the assistance of Resources West and Johanna Kelly. “With Johanna’s help, we got everything nailed down before we left. She helped do the market research and we knew all our costs. That gave us the confidence to go.” An advantage Ravenwood enjoys over U.S. manufacturers is the disparity between the Canadian and U.S. currency. “We can probably get a better return and still be well  priced because of the difference in the dollar,” he explains. Mr. Clark encourages Western PEI manufacturers to participate in a future trade mission, suggesting, “there are opportunities for other companies to do the same as us.”