The Refind Room

I'm Sarah Bernard and joining me in the studio is Suzanne Woodard who is the owner of the Refind Room Furniture Store which is a super cool store because I went there today to preview it. Loved it but before we talk about the store I want to talk about you because you have sort of an interesting path to retail ownership. You could say that I suppose yes. I actually quit my job in July as a lawyer. I had been a lawyer for 20 years and didn't have the plan to be a retail store owner but have always loved the interior design and furniture and that area. So in July when you quit your job you didn't have a plan for a retail store? No I did. I had a plan. Oh my God. You quit with a plan? I quit with a plan yes. And just I just want to say this too in case anybody is thinking about changing careers because I always thought that people did it just They had this brilliant idea and they thought I'm just going to do this and the people that I've met generally are not It took me probably about six years. Really? Yes. Six years of knowing what your plan was going to be or realizing you needed something or wanting something different. Yes. Going through the whole process and trying to figure out what would really be right, what I could do that I would love long term and just really doing the research. So I wanted something that would be useful and meaningful for other people and so that's how I kind of got into. I mean without talking about the store people might be thinking well furniture store how is that? Well the store and let's go ahead and switch to that. We can come back to more about you too in a minute but the store is really interesting because what you sell is furniture that as you say has been previously loved and so it's not new things but it's absolutely beautiful that you have it laid out in your store in different room environments so people can really get a feel for how that couch or that table would look in their own home. Instead of your typical retail store or consignment store and there's pictures right now on our screen that shows some of the examples of the things that you have that are so beautiful and so nicely laid out but another type of maybe like a consignment store or an auction house or antique store tends to have things sort of j So what was your thinking on that? Well I wanted to do this for, well there's a n It's beautiful furniture. It's really well taken care of. I just thought well loved and it has a, Exactly. Yeah. I mean your store does not look Everything looks brand new. So when you were thinking about opening a furniture store was your thought always on previously owned furniture or did you do that because of the current economic environment? I did it a lot because of the current economic environment but also being a cons So that was, I mean I'm a bargain shopper. Everybody's a bargain shopper. Yeah, for something in their life. So that was also it and especially with the economic climate and knowing that people aren't spending lots and lots of money to have really, really expensive things. So we're going to take a break but when we come back we're going to talk more about the store, your typical cons So don't go anywhere. You'll be with us again in the next segment. Stick around and we'll learn more about her and her store. Remember to keep up with STL TV and all the great events going on around St. Louis. Friend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube channel and you can always watch us streaming live on STLTV. net. Keep it locked on STL TV. We'll be right back with more STL TV Live.