Casket Competition : Retailing: A Cypress discount store hopes to break the domination of big funeral homes such as Forest Lawn, its neighbor across the street.

CYPRESS —  It’s an idea that just won’t die.

Two years ago, a husband-and-wife team opened a cut-rate casket store in Santa Ana. That endeavor, unable to compete with big-name funeral homes, recently closed its doors.

Along came Pete Fuller to fill the void left when Hillmark Casket Gallery went under. Fuller plans to take on the funeral industry with his own discount coffin store, Caskets Retail, which he defiantly positioned right across the street from Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress. “I’m going after the largest funeral home in Southern California,” Fuller boasted.

Never mind that he’s sold a grand total of four caskets since the store opened Aug. 16 and can’t afford to advertise. “I’m deep in the red,” he cheerfully reported.

But Fuller has every confidence he will succeed sooner than later. “I only need to sell eight or 10 caskets a month to make a profit,” he said. “That shouldn’t be too difficult, once people start learning that I’m here.”

He views himself as a man with a mission: “I’m forcing funeral homes to be more conscious of the economic needs of the public. In this country, death has become a luxury that many people can’t afford because the funeral industry has a monopoly on casket prices.”

His imposing competitors across Lincoln Avenue, however, seem something less than wrought with worry.

“I don’t see it (Caskets Retail) as a threat to our business,” said Darin Drabing, vice president of Orange County’s sole Forest Lawn, which sells about 1,500 coffins a year.

The nearby casket emporiums have little in common other than caskets. Forest Lawn’s showroom is discreetly located on the upstairs level of a stately mansion surrounded by the 150-acre cemetery. Lights are dim, floors thickly carpeted, voices reverently muffled.

In glaring contrast, Caskets Retail sits between a financial services office and a florist in a nondescript strip mall. It is anything but subtle: a “Grand Opening” sign hangs on the door, unveiled windows boldly display the head-turning wares inside. “People walk by and do a double take,” Fuller said.

Nor is the 1,000-square-foot store sedate--with its fluorescent lighting, tiled floors and starkly white walls. Fifteen caskets, about half the number in Forest Lawn’s showroom, are lined up like the new models at a car dealership.

Their prices range from $400, for a pressed wood box with a faux walnut grain surface, to $2,300, for pecan wood. A gasket-sealed steel coffin costs $1,875, while a lesser grade metal casket costs $985.

Fuller claims that his prices beat those of a typical funeral home by at least 50% for caskets of similar quality. He delivers free of charge within a 50-mile radius.

Many funeral homes tack on “handling fees” of up to $500 for caskets purchased elsewhere--a practice that the Federal Trade Commission has considered banning. Forest Lawn, however, does not add the controversial fees--an extra incentive for Fuller’s targeted customers. So far, he said, two of his caskets have been used for funerals otherwise arranged by his neighbor across the way.

Fuller got the notion to open a “casket K mart,” as he jokingly dubbed it, from the now-defunct Santa Ana store of the same ilk. The 39-year-old entrepreneur, who owns a janitorial business in Cerritos, was asked by his Mormon minister two years ago to help organize a congregation member’s funeral.

“The family couldn’t afford a funeral, so the church offered to pay,” said Fuller, an elder at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cerritos. “I was assigned to find an inexpensive but nice casket. Someone told me about Hillmark (Casket Gallery), where I got a casket for $985 that funeral homes were selling for $2,700.”

Hillmark has since gone out of business. Its owners, Sheralee and Kyle Nyswonger, could not be reached for comment. Fuller blames the failure of that enterprise on the funeral home industry, saying it dissuades casket manufacturers from selling to the little guy.

So he aims to bypass the obstacle by special-ordering caskets from a cabinetmaker in Texas and a sheet metal company in Phoenix rather than dealing with casket manufacturers, whose livelihood depends on a friendly relationship with funeral homes. His first batch of 30 coffins came from a Southern California casket maker that quickly backed away from selling him more.

Unfortunately, though, good intentions are no guarantee for success. James Allen, executive officer of the California Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, has seen such stores come and go. “There’s not much public interest in that sort of thing,” he said. “It’s so much more convenient for people to take care of everything at a funeral home, even if it means spending a few extra dollars on the casket.”

Forest Lawn’s Drabing, not surprisingly, agrees: “The sheer inconvenience of it alone would be a deterrent for our families going over there (to Caskets Retail).”

Besides, Forest Lawn itself displays nine that retail for less than $1,000. Most of them--including the funeral home’s cheapest model, at $235--are cloth-covered pressed wood. On the high end, a bronze casket sells for $4,000.

The bulk of Forest Lawn’s stock comes from Batesville Casket Co. in Indiana, which sells to 16,000 funeral homes throughout North America. “Our policy is to sell only to licensed funeral directors,” said spokesman Christian Williams. “We do not sell to businesses that would undercut our primary customers.”

A smattering of discount-casket stores around the country are struggling to survive. Perhaps the latest to break ground in this area is Affordable Caskets in Palmdale, which opened Oct. 4. Its co-owner, like Fuller, believes that she is performing a public service.

“We live in a free country,” said Sandy Ernest. “Why do you think there are four grocery markets on the corner? To give people a choice. That’s all we’re trying to do. We’re certainly not here to get rich.”

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT BUYING A CASKET

Almost everyone at some point will have the sad occasion of needing to buy a casket. Carol Jennings, funeral rules coordinator for the Federal Trade Commission, offers the following advice:

* Ask about caskets that are not on display in the showroom; often a funeral home will exhibit its more expensive models, but has an additional selection of lower-priced coffins.

* Invest some time to review prices. By law, funeral homes must furnish a list of casket prices that the customer can take home to study.

* If circumstances allow, do some comparative shopping. Funeral homes must make price information available over the telephone. Ask for a range of prices, and for the lowest-priced models.

* When possible--such as in the case of a terminal illness in the family--shop around for a casket before a death. Most people buy caskets when they are rushed and emotionally distressed.

* Be wary of claims about the protective value of a casket. No casket will preserve a body indefinitely.