Richard Cable has worked for 22 years as a designer and maintains a design studio in the original store. Partner Brian Davis oversees the retail side of the business, including the tweaks and edits necessary to maintain the high traffic and interest of local customers on visiting tourists.

“We were looking for a slower-paced lifestyle, so we left Boston and came down to Alabama to take over Brian's father's sandwich shop,” Cable said. That was in 1998. Over the next several years one shop grew to four. “By 2006 we had 40-something teen-agers working for us. So basically we went from one rat race to another rat race.”

The move to Huntsville also brought them to the heartland of the rocket race, an area fueled in recent years by the U.S. space shuttle and missile defense programs. It's home to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, the offices ofBoeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, has a high concentration of engineers and college-educated adults, and has enjoyed a healthy growth boom and real estate market for more than three decades.

This means that it was only a matter of time before the designers-turned-sandwich shop owners met some of North Alabama's real estate developers and were hired to do interior design work on some of their models. For Cable, it soon became a full-time job that led to the opening of his own design studio. Davis joined him, the studio became a specialty shop and a little over a year ago the two opened a secondRichard Cable Interiors store in Bridge Street Town Centre, a new 550,000-sq.-ft. retail lifestyle center of more than 70 stores and restaurants.

Cable and Davis were managers at Domain, Cable at the New York City store and Davis in Boston, when they left in search of a slower pace of life. Their Alabama business developed out of the interior design work they began doing for local real estate contractors and commercial developers.

The same merchandise mix is carried in both stores, about half of it home accents, with the new location selling more furniture items. “Given the current state of the economy we're trying to increase sales by tweaking our product with more accents, decorations, jewelry and gift items, candles, something they can just walk out the door with,” Davis said. “Coming from Domain and opening up our own stores, we've tried to find our niche about whether (to buy) expensive vs. what's more readily available.”

Cable and Davis said they decorated heavily the first weekend of October with Christmas merchandise and by the first weekend of November had already sold half of it. “Most of it is CBK. The reason CBK does our Christmas is they do some very whimsical and off-beat things that are a lot more fun than just solid balls,” Cable said. They also like Peking Handicraft's stockings and tree skirts, Authentic Models and the Bearington Bears Christmas Collection. “We also buy Halloween in small quantities and sold out of it before Halloween,” Davis added.

A minimum of eight salespeople are needed to run the Bridge Street store since it is open every evening until 9 p.m. and later on weekends. Most of the staff have design backgrounds and are referred to as home fashion experts.

They're still trying to figure out where to get the most bang for their advertising bucks, but enjoy supporting four major charities and promoting the work of local artists. “We follow what the mall does for events — it's more festive on weekends with strolling musicians so we bring in a classical guitarist,” Cable said. “On Nov. 20 we hosted an event for the Visionary Guild, an Alabama group of mentally and physically handicapped artists. We'll be showing their artwork through the first of January.”

Most of their customers are female, married, in their 40s, with a younger contingent that recognize the name and come in to browse. “People think we're a larger company than we are,” Davis said. “Richard has created a following in the past three to four years and we've become one of the premier design companies in Huntsville. When we opened the Bridge Street store, O&S Properties (the Town Centre's developer) convinced us to keep the name Richard Cable Interiors — they thought it had a little more panache than a generic home store name.”

Home accents accounted for 60% of 2007 total sales, merchandised in room vignettes. Cable said the store has no written return policy because he and Davis “do everything within our power to make sure you (the customer) are satisfied.”

So far, the economy hasn't presented a major challenge, so Cable and Davis are discussing the idea of expanding their Web site, which for now is basically a design portfolio, to include more of the retail business. For now, the site is managed by Cable. “There's not a lot of flash and moving things but because I do it and it's so easy, I can change in a matter of minutes, which allows us to keep it very fresh.”

In the meantime, they're ending 2008 year on a positive note and enjoying the ride. “For me, it's been a lifelong dream to have my own little shop,” Cable said. “Funny how our dreams change over the years. Out of design school 20 years ago I thought I'd have some accessories, maybe my name on a storefront, but there is such a sense of pride when you walk into a complex like this and know that people appreciate our vision.”

“I would agree 100% with that,” Davis added. “There's a great sense of satisfaction to knowing that you've created something like this.”

Richard Cable Interiors Storefront