Janice McEachern and her family found their way through the recession of 2008, shortly after they opened One Stop Furniture Shop in Sidney — and did it by fostering great relationships with their customers without sacrificing product quality.
This month, the local business marks 10 years in Sidney and McEachern says no matter what changes come, they do not plan on ever leaving the community.
“Sidney is our home,” she said, noting her children grew up in the community and even worked at the store during their school years.
For the last decade, One Stop Furniture Shop has been in the same location on Fifth Street, behind Theo’s Restaurant. McEachern said they hope, one day, to have a bigger store. That could see an expansion of their current location or finding a new one. Either way, she said they’re staying in Sidney.
It’s that sort of loyalty they are reflecting back to a community that supported them when they were starting out. And these days, their customers are always spreading the good news by word of mouth. McEachern said they even have the next generation of families they’ve worked with, coming back to One Stop Furniture Shop.
McEachern recalls starting out in the business selling mattresses. They still do, but over the years found there was a demand for good quality furniture. And in turning the business in that direction, she said what remained important to them was selling products they would be proud of. That’s a standard they hold to their suppliers as well.
At the shop, McEachern said the focus is on the customer and they will spend as much time as necessary to get them what they need and get it right.
“I’d like to think that our customers feel like they’ve been spoiled here,” she said.
One of the biggest lessons for McEachern when reflecting over the last decade, is to deal with quality suppliers.
“People expect and demand to get a good product,” she said.
And so does she.
“I’m tough when times get hard and because of that, we get 90 per cent of our business from referrals — we have a very good reputation here.”
