The Wood Works of Cedar Springs. was founded in the summer
of 2001. We started out as a custom woodworking shop. In 2004 we
moved to a 2,000 square foot building. It was split
into 2 sections by the previous tenants. We utilized the back
of the building for manufacturing and the front section for applying
stain, paint and varnish. This lasted for about 2 months. People started coming into the store. Most were looking for the
previous tenants and were a bit more than surprised with what they
found. It didn’t look like a store at all. Just a bunch of furniture
and toys in the style so typical of the cabins and cottages found in northern
Michigan. And there was the heavy smell of sawdust. Most
of them liked what they saw, loved the smell of the place and asked
if we sold “this stuff”. We were not expecting any visitors let
alone customers. As the shock wore off we said, “Sure, what can we
make for you.” We still had no inventory so all our jobs were still
custom orders. But as the summer progressed we started making two of
everything. Then we started making items for the retail side
of the business.
About this time other business owners in the area started telling us
about the local festival in October and the tens of thousands of
people who would be here. We needed to get ready for this event and
we didn’t have enough inventory to fill even a corner of the store.
We needed a new approach to grow the business and fill the store.
That’s where our local artists came to the rescue. We opened our
store to them on a consignment basis. Their art brought in more
people and our custom work introduced our customers to the work of
the local artists. It was a perfect match made just in time for the
people who came through our store during the one-day festival.
In September 2005 we decided to build a website with photos of past
projects. Now our customers could see what we had created for other people and
get a better idea of what we could do for them. In 2006 we had over 45,000 hits
on our website. In March 2007 we started adding the shopping cart to our
website. December 2008 has generated over 43,000 hits, growth X 12 in two years.
Growth of this magnitude is wonderful, but we still enjoy that personal
connection with each of our clients. In December 2012 we crossed the 100,000
hits per month mark. Thank you.
While our main emphasis has been on custom designed furniture we
have developed our own line of hand made pine, oak and cedar furniture
and accessories. The unique
aspect of this line is that no two pieces are the same. The texture
and knotting, something we look for, adds a distinctive country
flavor to each piece we produce. I know that you will be as pleased
with your purchase as we were when we created
it. All of our unpainted pieces are identified with our unique brand.
It’s a treasured moment to hear from our customers.
Send any comments you have to:
bob@woodworksofcs.com
Welcome to our store.
Bob Chesley
President
