Business: Amish Furniture Gallery
Address: 892 Route 59, Naperville
Phone/website: 630-922-0002, www.unpluggedfurniture.com
General manager: Brian Zerm, 46, of Huntley
Years in business: 19
What does your business do? “We design and build custom furniture with input from the customers, how they want things to be,” Zerm said.
How does that work? “What we have on the floor is basically a catalog you can modify and get what you need from a style standpoint, a wood standpoint, a color standpoint, a size standpoint. It’s not like other furniture stores where you walk in and they have the exact piece sitting in a warehouse. This is custom built. … It’s built from scratch. We’re a niche.
“They have to envision it. We help them by showing them different things in the store. … We offer seven or eight different woods and 30 colors. There’s an infinite amount of possibilities.”
What about competition? “There are so many other stores, especially up and down (Route) 59. … But they all do their own thing. Limited custom. Maybe you get a different fabric on a sofa. … Here, the sky’s the limit.
“We built a table for somebody two years ago that’s 22 feet long with 24 chairs. We built it in three chunks. … A giant house in Oak Park. … We can do things other stores can’t do. … The challenge is differentiating yourself from others around you.”
Why is the website called unplugged furniture? “All the people who build our wood furniture are all Amish. They don’t have electricity, computers, telephones.”
Are you Amish? “I am not.”
How do you contact the Amish if they don’t use electricity? “Some use a fax service, they get messages dropped off like mail. Others, there are phones at a neighbor’s house, caller ID.”
Where are your furniture builders? “The vast majority are in Ohio.”
Any other store locations? “Batavia and Crystal Lake. Our original store was in Crystal Lake. That’s where our owner, Dick Hubbard, was based. There are three stores in Colorado.”
What’s the background? “I’ve been with the company 25 years. Started in college. Back when we were a one-store operation in Crystal Lake. I grew up in Cary. … I started selling furniture. I helped with delivery. I finished up college. Dick decided to open a second store and we opened in Naperville in 2005 … We’ve been in this building two years. We moved 300 feet (from our former building).”
What do you like best? “I like working for a small company because you get to be a part of everything. We can talk to a customer and have a relationship and not follow someone’s script. … It sounds canned and contrived, but it’s not. We try to listen to people about what they want. … And no two days are the same.”
Is oak most popular? “No. When I started it was. Now we’re looking at brown maple and cherry. But oak has made a resurgence. Oak is good because it’s a hardwood. All our woods are hardwoods.”
Where do you find the wood? “Most of it comes from forests and woodlands in and around the Amish community. They do a lot of responsible harvesting.”
What misconceptions do people have? “Everybody still expects it to be golden oak, colonial and old-fashioned. We strive to keep up with the trends of style, wood, color, still with the mindfulness of being classic. When you purchase furniture from us, it will last as long as you want it.
“Another misconception is people expect Amish furniture to be really expensive. … We’re kind of in the mid-range for pricing, but when you look at how long our furniture lasts, we become a true value.”
What makes Amish furniture stand out? “Attention to detail. While not typically prideful — they’re a faith-based people — they do take pride in their work. They make sure they do a great job.”
Are there many repeat customers? “Huge. Again, it’s relationships. We promise things to people. We live up to those promises. They’re happy and come back to us.”
Any negatives? “No. You’ve got to enjoy what you do.”
When are you busiest? “From January until about the end of March. … People get the idea of (spending their) tax returns.”
Any favorite stories? “I’ve seen people hug the salesperson and say, ‘Thank you.’ It makes me happy. That means we’ve done our job.”
How long from order to delivery? “On average about three months.”
What’s your advice for someone starting a business? “Be a part of everything to start with. You need to understand all parts of the business in order to lead people.”
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun. If you know of a business you’d like to see profiled in Down to Business, contact him at [email protected].
