HERNANDO, Miss. – As interest in outdoor lighting grows among homeowners and interior designers, manufacturers have been expanding their collections and focusing on finish, style and durability.
Mississippi-based Magnolia Lighting, a 2025 Retail Star, has a steady outdoor lighting business, according to co-owner Pam Whitfield. “We don’t sell a lot of landscape lighting, more lanterns and wall-scape lighting,” she said. “Landscape feels like a whole different category.”
We spoke with Whitfield about what she looks for when she shops the category, her go-to vendors and whether finish ratings are important to her retail customers.
When you shop for outdoor lighting, what are your top 3 criteria?
Our criteria would be quality first. That doesn’t always have to mean the most expensive. Some of the fixtures we sell in volume tend to hold up as long as [more expensive fixtures].
Here in the South, we want a lot for our money, so we’re always looking for the [best] look for the best price. But the most important thing is quality and the vendor. We want it to look great. We like the beveled glass. We’re not necessarily big on bulky cast fixtures. We like the clean metals and the options for the different glass. We’re more traditional.
Who are your go-to vendors in this category and why?
Quorum is our #1 vendor. We do the most volume with them. For outdoor, there are four that are equal: Quorum, Quoizel (for price and quality), Capital and Hinkley, for style and design AND still a great price. We do some others, but that’s the bulk of our business.
The other segment of our outdoor lighting is copper lanterns. Primarily, they’re gas lanterns, natural or propane. It’s a beautiful look. We buy from CopperSmith, Primo and Legendary, which is made in Mississippi.
What kind of ratings are you most interested in — damp, wet, coastal?
For us, damp and wet are important. Coastal grade is not a factor for us. I know they sell some of the coastal [to place near] salt-water pools, but I don’t think saltwater pools affect outdoor lanterns. We do have some, but it’s primarily because I love the way they look more than because of that rating level.
How important is a Dark Sky rating in your area?
Dark Sky is not a factor in our area. For our customers, the more light, the better.
