Working with Local Furniture Making Shops

Long ago, when Ben and Arvid took the risk of starting Penny Mustard, there were some that decided to take a risk on them as well. It wasn’t the large production builders or franchises that saw their vision.

It was the small, local furniture making shops. The ones that were taking a risk themselves to share their craft. The ones that caught the vision of creating “better versions of what people want.”

These Midwest makers were the ones that helped build Penny Mustard then and continue to be the backbone of what Penny Mustard is today.

BEN: “So when we first started in the business, the only ones that would really do business with us were the small shops.”

ARVID: “None of the big furniture guys would sell to us. We had to use small shops. There was a shop in Spencer, Wisconsin that gave us credit for six months to pay for the floor models that we put out. They trusted us. There was a small company in Abbotsford, Wisconsin that had faith in us. A company in Unity, Wisconsin had faith in us too.

BEN: “Several thousand dollar handshake agreements. I don’t think we had anything in writing, did we? Just, ‘we’re going to give you this furniture and pay us back over the course of the next six months.’ In fact, last year, 86.2% of our furniture was made in five Midwestern States – Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois.

ARVID: “I looked at Google maps and 86.2% of our furniture is made within 360 miles from where we’re standing right now. That’s not very far away. That furniture doesn’t have to travel very far. But an even bigger thing is that all that furniture making supports a lot of families right here in the Midwest – the upper Midwest.

BEN: “Keeping that furniture local, we’ve reduced wasted freight costs. We also package differently. We’re not throwing a bunch of cardboard and plastic into landfills. We blanket wrap our furniture.

We have such a tremendous ability to act fast to a new style. Complete control over our quality. Our furniture is not completely around the earth somewhere, where it takes us a whole day to get there. It’s made right here. We can see it. We can change and tweak it as needed. Our builders do such amazing work…such good craftspeople.”

ARVID: “We just fit in with these people. We get them, and they get us. We don’t need a big, long contract to describe our agreement. Our agreement is right here in a handshake. They know what we want. We know what they want. We speak the same language. We understand each other.

It’s been fun to watch these shops grow and develop. You know, just building a relationship.”

BEN: “Many of the small shops that we started working with just had one or two people in the shop at the time. And today there are 15, 20, 25, 30 people working there because of our relationship with them. And because of you, our customer. You’re putting these people to work right here in the Midwest because you’re willing to buy better quality furniture from us.”