Salvage Sisters

Mankato is really thriving and there'so much need and want for really unique businesses. Growing up I've always been involved in furniture and design and antique stores. So then this opportunity fell in my lap and I had to say yes. I was looking for a new partner and somebody brought up Heather's name and so we decided to join forces. Heather and I have the same energy level and our skills and experience complement each other so it's been great. I basically manage and do the marketing. I take care of books, I man the store. My day to day is never the same. My job is primarily furniture so I'm scouting and scouring and digging and r And then I'm in charge of repairing the furniture and cleaning it up and transforming it into what we see in the store. When Carol brings new stuff in I find homes for them and it's always changing. When we are looking to pick up a piece of furniture first thing we want to do is look are all the pieces there, is it repairable, is it in good shape, is it quality construction. The stuff that we have in our store is completely unique. We never get two of the same piece and we never paint anything the same color twice. Heather and I think about and collaborate on the color for the particular piece and what kind of finish it would be if it's distressed or if it's just a straight up paint job. The most gratifying thing about this business is offering something unique in this community. For me what's the most exciting is to take a piece of furniture that nobody wanted. It was a cast off, it was on the curb maybe or in a d We've had people come into the store and be surprised and say well I thought you offered used furniture because it looks so great and it's exciting to hear that kind of comment. It's great that we're expanding our warehouse. That is going to really help us with turnover, offering more custom painting. We'll be able to paint there, prime there, repair there and let the paint cure all in one space. It's very exciting and I'll be able to park my car in the garage over the winter. Even better. Facebook is a really powerful marketing tool and we have embraced that. Basically I'll take pictures of new stuff that comes in the store and I just want people to know daily what's happening, what we're doing, what we're up to. Our inventory changes all the time so if you don't see something you I think when we started it was Just a little bit of elbow grease. You can really create something extraordinary.