At age 28, Bew started his quest by buying a 25-percent interest for $25,000 in Leaf Industries, a small company in Trussville which made furniture.

He worked there for nine months and left to start his own company, Vista Corporation, a furniture sales representative company.

He was the sales manager from 1979-1990 with 28 lines.

He coined Vista’s name “looking over the next horizons,” as a brand for a business venture of his father.

When that did not pan out, he took the name for himself. At Vista, he was the sales manager for the Southeast selling lifestyle furniture such as metal bunk style beds.

Eventually he dropped all lines but the five, most successful lines. He was on the road all the time with small children at home.

“I was gone all the time, sometimes two weeks at a time,” said Bew. “I was sick of the road, wanted to get out of the rep business and start a business that was not dependent totally on me. Ensley Manufacturing was in bankruptcy and it owned the Hinds Street property. I bought the business and that is how I got Hinds Street.”

Creating new techniques for furniture to withstand the elements, Bew entered the manufacturing end, going abroad from Chile to Mexico and China to manufacture the best quality for the best price.

He created a pressure treated, kiln dry process for wood not to rot in the wet.

With a keen eye and a creative talent, Bew created furniture that he liked. He came up with the name, Summer Classics, had the distinctive SC initial logo created and began to create a niche in the “outdoor room,” a new concept he developed starting with outdoor umbrellas with free standing base that he invented combined with painted outdoor furniture that withstood the elements.

“I focused on customer service and cutting edge clients like Williams-Sonoma, Crate and Barrel, and Frontgate,” said Bew. “I remember I had a bad shipment from Chile and could not sell it to my client. The product was good but not good enough for retail. I put in a full-page ad in The Birmingham News, ‘Summer Classics Factory Opens to the Public.’ We sold out that weekend, even sold the parts of furniture. That was the beginning of the Pelham store. My lemons were made into lemonade.”

From once a month, to every weekend to a full-time store, 111 Hinds Street and Pelham has been a huge part of Summer Classics for the last 15 years and, now permanently with the state-of-the-art new SC Headquarters.