Geoff Hancock loves the process of hunting for the perfect high-quality furniture and home decor items for Needful Things, the store he and his wife Kim own.
Once Geoff finds the pieces, Kim takes over and uses her love of staging and decorating to beautifully display everything from tables and couches to lamps in their store and helps customers find the perfect fit for them.
They’ve been combining these skills and working together for the past 10 years, and in that time, they’ve seen their business grow and their love for their work stay just as strong as ever.
“We make a very good team,” said Geoff.
Kim and Geoff have owned Needful Things since 2006. They purchased the store – which offers pre-owned fine furniture and home decor such as lamps, mirrors and artwork – from Kim’s parents, Danny and Jackie Lukinuk, and furniture has been in Kim’s family for many decades.
Kim’s parents began selling furniture in Campbell River in the 1970s, and they started this store in 2002. This building at 1121 Ironwood St. has always been a furniture store, according to Kim.
In 1977, brothers Danny and Mitch Lukinuk built the building where Needful Things is located. Mitch’s Furniture was there for several years, and then a few different businesses made the building their home. Danny and Jackie decided to open a pre-owned furniture store in the building in 2002.
When Kim and Geoff decided to buy Needful Things, Kim’s parents were looking to retire and Geoff was looking for a career change. Geoff studied commerce at McGill University and knew he had the skills to run a business and then he learned a lot from Kim’s father about what to look for as far as quality, while Kim’s mom taught her the bookkeeping for the store.
“What made it such an easy transition is my mother and father stayed on board for a few months to help,” said Kim. “Even today, my mom and dad are always happy to come in and they relieve us when we need vacation.”
Geoff travels to the Mainland and up and down Vancouver Island looking for high-quality furniture, mainly through estate sales, and he loves finding the right furniture and decor pieces for the store.
From there, Kim’s love of staging and decorating comes in.
“The fun is Geoff loves the buying and I love the staging,” said Kim. “I love sales. I’m a people person; I love people coming in and I love hearing their stories.”
Kim says the beauty of owning your inventory outright is that they have better control over the quality.
“I think it’s just nice being your own boss, and working with my husband,” she added.
She also loves that they are a green business, essentially recycling or repurposing furniture. By giving the furniture and home decor items in their store a new home and a new life, they are keeping them out of the landfill.
Since 2006, Kim and Geoff have been seeing more and more people coming through the door each year.
“Business has been very good for us,” said Kim. “I think we are becoming more well-known.”
Kim says that big projects in Campbell River, like the construction of Berwick By The Sea and BC Hydro projects, have been very good for them. For example, when Berwick opened, many people were looking to downsize and dispose of furniture, so they turned to Needful Things, and then, when they were looking for smaller, apartment-sized furniture, they could also turn to Needful Things.
As well, many workers on the Hydro projects come here and rent homes for a few years while they are working on a specific project, so that has helped the business as well, says Kim.
A growing clientele has meant a growing store, and the Hancocks have made many changes to the store since buying it in 2006.
“With the increase in business, as we’ve become more established and better known, we’ve expanded,” said Kim.
Two years ago, Geoff and Kim added 3,000 square feet to the store and turned warehouse space on the second floor into retail space. The store is now 10,000 square feet.
“I am pretty sure we are the largest used furniture store in Canada,” said Geoff.
The Hancocks focus on high-quality, real wood furniture that is Canadian-made as often as they can.
“Part of what makes this fun and makes us unique is the furniture we have here has been specialty crafted,” said Kim.
“We try to represent higher-end furniture that we find through estate sales or exclusive stores,” added Geoff.
For more information about Needful Things, visit needfulthings.ca or call 250-287-2202.
