Billiards company Chilton sees lift from barstools sales

Even though it sits next to Wichita’s busiest thoroughfare, some people still have trouble finding Chilton Billiards. That’s because the business spent much of its 70-year history a few blocks away, before moving to Broadway just south of Kellogg three years ago.

“A lot of people remember the old Topeka (Street) location,” owner Chris Simons said. “They still find us.”

The move is one more change in a business that has evolved with the times over the years. It was started in 1946 by World War II veteran Stan Chilton (pronounced “Shilton”), mainly as a vending machine company that dabbled in pool tables. By the 1980s and ’90s, though, homes were getting bigger, and many people were installing pool tables in places they wouldn’t have fit before. Chilton sold the vending and amusement division of the company in 1998 and concentrated on pool tables, as well as spas, bar stools, dart boards and other entrainment-related items.

Simons, 44, started doing deliveries and installations for Chilton while still in college and eventually launched his own pool table recovering and maintenance business, getting most of his referrals from Chilton. In 2010, he bought the business from Chilton, who he says recently celebrated his 90th birthday.

Simons said moving the business made sense because Chilton had earlier sold the building. “I don’t like paying rent,” he said. “I’ve got a bunch of rentals myself.”

He moved the company into the former Kansas Blueprint space in 2013. Much of the 15,000 square feet is taken up by a showroom with the biggest displays of pool tables – about 45 at any one time – and bar stools in the region. Simons said he’s one of two Brunswick Billiards dealers in the state, and he also recently added Legacy Billiards tables to his product line. New tables run from about $2,000 to $10,000.

“Most of it’s the woodworking,” he said of what raises the price of a table. “Just a fancier table.”

The business also buys and sells used tables, which start at about $1,000.

About 20 percent of the company’s work comes from servicing and transporting tables, which must be disassembled before being moved. Simons said the company services all of western Kansas and halfway to Kansas City from Wichita.

“There are thousands of tables out there,” he said.

Chilton employs eight people full time and a couple of more during its busiest season: fall through Christmas.

Barstools have become a bigger part of the business in recent years. They can be custom ordered from about 300 models in the store.

The store carries about everything associated with pool, from cues and racks to balls and chalk. It also sells patio furniture, air hockey tables, foosball tables, shuffleboards, poker tables and chips and even those paintings of dogs playing poker.

Simons said he doesn’t shoot much pool himself, aside from the occasional game with his son.

“I can shoot, but I don’t play that much,” he said. “It’s one of those things where you have it in front of you all day.”

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Billiards company Chilton sees lift from barstools sales."