Local store offers items for summer barbecues and more
by Sally Litchfield
sallylit@bellsouth.net
May 10, 2012 | 1612 views | 1 1 comments | 8 8 recommendations | email to a friend | print
From left, Casual Image’s Ronald Skeean, Karen Heroux, Dorothy Miller and Clark Miller sit in one of the outdoor landscape displays at the store in Marietta. The store offers outdoor cooking items as well as cooking classes.<br>Staff/Lindsay Fendt
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For 25 years Casual Image, a family-owned and -operated retailer, has served the Atlanta area with its outdoor living needs.

“There’s at least three to five family members here whenever we are open,” Karen Heroux said. Her parents, Dot and Ron Skeean, own the store and three of their four children and two spouses are actively involved in the business.

Located at 1893 Piedmont Road, Casual Image offers products and professional services for outdoor living. Casual Image creates the outdoor lifestyle through its products and services. “Our model is build it and they will come, decorate it and they will stay,” Heroux said.

The store features a broad spectrum of products including outdoor and patio furniture along with accessories such as outdoor rugs, pillows and lighting. Much of their inventory is in stock and ready for delivery.

“People are tired of throwaway investments. There’s no middle of the road with outdoor furniture. It’s either low-end, throwaways and disappointments or it’s pieces that will literally last 20 years like you can get (at Casual Image),” Heroux explained.

Casual Image also offers outdoor kitchen design and installation options using the best in fireplace equipment and outdoor construction. Grills and accessories for outdoor cooking can be purchased at Casual Image including The Big Green Egg.

“We kind of do it all. We can help you take your space and make it an outdoor room,” she said.

At Casual Image, the customer gets personalized service. “When people start shopping, they can tell for themselves. Furniture is one of the last frontiers that you can’t shop on the Internet. It really does take a showroom to mix and match and to design and to sit on to try comfort,” she said.

Casual Image also helps its customers create an outdoor lifestyle through cooking classes offered periodically at the store utilizing products like The Big Green Egg. “We provide appetizers and drinks. The whole idea is to come in and learn not only what to ask the butcher, how to shop for meat, where to shop for meat, how to prep it and how to season it but how to work the Green Egg,” Heroux said. Vegetarian instruction also available.

“We want to educate people, entertain people and to continue relationships with the customer,” Heroux said.

To learn more about Casual Image’s products and services, visit www.casualimage.com or call (770) 971-5605. Store hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.
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JoEllen Smith
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May 12, 2012
I know this isn't the season to be thinking about this but, I bought my fireplace glass enclosure from Casual Image. Their help is amazing! Not only friendly but incredibly knowledgeable about all of their items. Sometimes you really don't even know the questions you need to ask and that was the case here. I have friends who have done outdoor lifestyle work on their homes and they say that choices can be overwhelming, so this type of guidance is very necessary. I know it may sound corny to say "buy local," but when you think that with every, single purchase you help a brick and mortar store pay its property tax and a majority of that goes to our schools, it may not be so corny after all!
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