Where should we begin discussing the innovativeness of James Funderburk: his having owned a cut-and-sew factory on U.S. soil, his trendy clothing stores, Charlotte’s newest night club and restaurant, or his involvement in “green” real estate development? We might track his entrepreneurial spirit to Tehran, where he was a fourteen-year-old during the 1979 revolution, or to Malta where he attended the equivalent of his junior year of high school at a prep school modeled on those in England.
“I had some really hard times in high school, having lived abroad and knowing I was different,” said Funderburk, which isn’t difficult to imagine of his return to Morehead High School, the conglomerate high school for his hometown of Eden. “I was a foreigner in more ways than one.”
On top of Funderburk’s travels, he identified with a not-so-hetero- sexuality at a very young age. During his teenage years, the only openly gay male role models were hairdressers and florists. But he imagined a world larger than that for himself, a world without limits. In retrospect, he describes himself a “gay-identified bisexual,” having had significant relationships with both sexes. Try explaining that to the people of Eden, North Carolina in 1980.
It is those hard times that shaped Funderburk into the forward-thinking entrepreneur he is today. “I learned not just to adapt, but to find or create our own market niches. Everything I do is very organic. I watch a need develop and I start looking for innovative ways to fulfill it. I’m a niche marketer and I instinctually anticipate the need before the market does. Sometimes I just show Charlotte what it wants next! I can be very impatient.” Making certain to give credit where it is due, Funderburk makes it clear that everything he does is with the help of key partners who share his vision and also believe in the great city that Charlotte is growing into.
Take his designer clothing chain, Lotus. During high school in Dallas, he got a holiday job as a gift-wrapper at Neiman-Marcus. This was the old Neiman-Marcus that was all class and service, where one had to work one’s way onto the sales floor, where a forty-year-old man is a more likely candidate than a high school kid. Funderburk loved the atmosphere and the store’s philosophy of putting the customer first, and he talked his way onto the sales floor. In the stationery department, he made himself the store authority on etiquette, serving as a resource for customers as well as other associates. He was not only tops in sales, but garnered the attention of high-profile customers, designing stationery for the likes of Cher. He later sold men’s clothing, personally styling Ross Perot’s wardrobe. Despite his many moves during high school (six high schools in five different states and countries) Funderburk headed home to attend the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After four years of college and no degree (but very valuable experience as the treasurer and social chairman of his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi) he headed back to Dallas for a shot to work as a buyer for Neiman-Marcus. “I was one of the very few without a degree to be offered this opportunity. But after a short stint in the corporate culture, I realized it would be a slow death with low pay, even if I had achieved one of the top buyer positions. After being given this generous opportunity, I realized it was not for me and I begged my way back to the selling floor to work in men’s suits to take up what I’d been good at and sold about a million dollars worth of clothes in my first year.”
“I was making $80,000 at twenty-two; in those days, it was awesome! But I figured, if I can do it for them, I could do it for myself with a lot less stress!” In his quest to carve out a place for himself in the world, he realized the booming economy in his home state of North Carolina would bring his first entrepreneurial opportunity. “It was the eighties--all tube tops and scrunchy skirts.” Funderburk headed back to Greensboro and opened his first business at the age of 22, 26 Designs (one of the predecessors of Lotus) in the Four Seasons Mall. The store sold one-size-fits-all clothing, which is easy to produce and market. The concept was so successful that Funderburk eventually opened four stores in the region and opened his own manufacturing plant in an abandoned grocery store he bought in his hometown of Eden. Sadly, it would be many years before he made 80,000 dollars in a year again!
Two things happened that might send some entrepreneurs back to the corporate world. First, Funderburk figured out that a man he trusted and had partnered with was actually sucking money out of the business, instead of investing in it as agreed. Second, he divorced from his wife, who was his partner in their clothing business. He let neither setback determine his future. He dissolved the partnership, sold the stores, moved back to Charlotte and began looking around for what would be next.
“The good news was my business model supported itself through the entire experience. It taught me any really good idea I could make work as long as the market would support it. I learned I could do anything and didn’t need someone else’s money behind it.”
An opportunity presented itself. Funderburk had a friend in Greensboro who owned White Rabbit, a gay and lesbian book and gift store. Funderburk suggested opening a Charlotte store, citing the city’s growing population and no similar retailers as sure signs of possibilities for the business to succeed. He quickly raised over $40,000 in small contributions from the Greensboro store’s supportive customer base to open the Charlotte store.
After opening the bookstore and getting to know Charlotte, Funderburk saw the need for a hip, designer clothing store. In 1993 he opened Urban Evolution on East Boulevard in Dilworth. Business was great, though his clientele had very limited options in terms of where to wear their clothes. He began holding monthly parties called Mother’s Milk with Christopher Frers, which sometimes attracted over 500 people and became legendary among Charlotte’s forward-thinking crowds who sought a community of like-minded people.
“Christopher and I would travel as buyers for my stores to New York and L.A. and of course got to know the scene very well. We’d always think, ‘we need something like this in Charlotte.’” From that he was inspired and they opened Tonic, a lounge/nightclub in Elizabeth that became Funderburk’s social experiment for creating a scene for the creative class of Charlotte. Tonic had a run of almost six years, boasting a rather long life as Charlotte nightclubs go.
During this time, Funderburk moved Urban Evolution to Plaza Midwood. After buying Superior Feet clothing store and deciding it needed a change, he became a pioneer in revitalizing the Central Avenue corridor. He then made his impact in the SouthPark area with Civilian, a high-end clothing store at Phillips Place.
With partner Effie Loukas, he introduced the first Lotus boutique, carrying his own line of women’s clothing. The partners followed with a return to Dilworth, opening a Lotus near the original site of Urban Evolution, and rebranded the Plaza-Midwood location as Lotus, as well as converting his Birkdale Village Civilian store from a failed partnership into their most successful Lotus store.
In 2003, his clothing stores were going strong and Funderburk had some breathing room and some down time to see what life would present next. A piece of land in Wesley Heights became available, a perfect place to build a modern house and settle in. But by the time he was to close on it, he was involved in a new relationship with his now husband, Jim Hock. They almost let the land go, but his business instincts told him otherwise. With its proximity to Uptown, they decided to develop it, but needed to find the right niche. In thinking through real estate possibilities, he wanted to merge modern, urban design with his concern for low-impact and sustainable living, but couldn’t find a feasible way to do it.
“I started looking around and the products I needed for our vision just weren’t readily available, not at affordable prices anyway. I don’t think green living should just be for the rich. What’s the point of that? To make a difference, more than just a select group of people needs to have access. It was important to me to design condos that addressed environmental concerns but were competitively priced.” Funderburk had ideas such as dual-flush toilets, low-VOC emitting cabinets, recycled glass tiled bathrooms and other more sustainable building materials, but wasn’t able to find the materials easily or at a reasonable cost.
What would James Funderburk do? What else? He created a new company, KIITE Resources (acronym for Knowledge Is In The Earth), a supplier of green building materials, appliances, fixtures and hardware. This way Funderburk could not only include as standard features all of his green design ideas in his new development, Celadon, but also supply them to other like-minded developers across the country at a price that would still meet their cost requirements.
As if all that wasn’t enough to keep him busy, Funderburk wanted to answer the calls of all those who missed the Tonic atmosphere and felt that Uptown was missing a chill all day to late, late night spot. Enter HOM, a three-story entertainment and food haven with three different entities. Feast, a casual French-Moroccan restaurant open from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.; LIV, a laid-back cocktail lounge and bistro open seven days a week, sometimes until 4 a.m.; and PLAY, an all-out dance club with a piano bar tucked into it.
“I envision HOM becoming a hub for Uptown. That place where a community of like-minded individuals can gather for a meal, or just to meet, a place open all day long. We have FEAST open everyday almost all the time, LIV for a cool place for a cocktail 7 days a week downtown or PLAY to party hard into the night.” Funderburk opened HOM with his partners Andre Araiz and Alvaro Kraizel in the fall near the corner of Fifth and Trade.
Funderburk is also a principal, with his interior designer partner Tom Long, in the Charlotte design firm Long Funderburk Group. “Tom and I have formed a partnership that will help give polish to all of my endeavors and I will help Tom leverage all his talents as a designer and genius he is!” They are also focusing on redevelopment of west Charlotte neighborhoods such as Biddleville, Seversville, and Wesley Heights, among others.
I think it’s fair to say James Funderburk has found his spot, yes, his niche even, right here in Charlotte. He’s lived here for fifteen years, the longest consecutive period of time he’s ever lived in one place. And he is definitely making his mark. Few have left a mark in as many neighborhoods throughout the area.
~ Celina Mincey
You can check some of his many projects out at the following web sites.
www.celadongreenway.com | www.myhom.com | www.lotuslook.com
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