We were lucky to catch up with Brad McCullough recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brad, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

After a lifetime of growing up in the retail furniture/bedding business I found myself desiring to transform our property into something more interesting and profitable. We had been in a building that had housed a home furnishings store since the mid 1950’s. We had done a good job keeping the property relevant and modern but felt there could be a better use for it. The challenge became what to do with the property. Vintage markets or antique malls were nothing new, but we felt the model would fit well within these walls. We allocated a small area of the square footage to test the water and opened Evenbrooke Marketplace with just a handful of vendors. Almost immediately we saw a positive response from customers and vendors and quickly began growing.
All of the sudden I found myself engaged in a retail model that differed greatly from the tradition of furniture and bedding sales. It was quite a learning process that had to be learned and adapted to quickly with the flexibility to recognize trends and management efforts. Innovation was a must in recognizing what Evenbrooke was selling. Of course, the vendors’ products are ultimately what is transactional with the customer. However, the reality is that this sort of market is truly selling an experience more than anything. Our guests are primarily interested in a quick escape from their everyday routine. The higher traffic volume this sort of venue creates allows you to compile information much more quickly in regard to what customers enjoy and are looking for with their visit.
In summary, I have sincerely enjoyed the opportunity to be innovative in our approach to evolve, change and grow in tandem with our customers interests and influence.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always enjoyed the person-to-person element of retail. Everyone has a different style of selling and trust me, we are all selling something! Low pressure, conversational selling has always been my preferred approach. My goal has always been to create an environment where a customer truly experiences an environment where they are making the decision to purchase versus feeling pushed or coerced into a transaction. At Evenbrooke, we certainly offer a multitude of unique products that range from nostalgic to decorative and functional. I am most proud of how Evenbrooke has evolved into a location where customers can not only shop for gifts and items for their homes but also take part in interactive, hands-on workshops learning new skills for repurposing furniture and creating their own distinctive keepsakes. We have developed opportunities for customers to create relationships with vendors who can become personal shoppers for them as they visit estate sales and auctions to find the perfect item or items they are looking for. The environment of Evenbrooke is a fun one and the products are often not necessities but that doesn’t lessen our efforts to treat every desire of what they may be looking for as the most important priority for us.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

For anyone in business resilience is a necessity. Probably the most challenging time in my career is shared, I’m quite cerain, with many other business owners. When the economy was struggling so tremendously around 2008 it became difficult to achieve and maintain the basic essentials. At that time, we were very much into the furniture and bedding retail industry which was hit extremely hard. Tenacity and discipline were the only thing that would keep us going. We got creative with our real estate and reduced our overhead every way possible. It would be a long decade ahead until we found the path to Evenbrooke Marketplace, but the lessons learned during this time would prove priceless as we created a new business model for ourselves.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Never have we taken thriving business for granted. However, there are times when you don’t realize you are inside of the good ol’ days until they are passed. As we moved out of what was one of the most educational and challenging decades of my life, I find myself with a renewed sense of how quickly things can change and how to prepare for those changes. Often, it easy to relax and lose focus when things are going well. This is the time to continue to press, take time to document what is working well and improve upon it. While things are growing make the effort to step aside for a brief moment to prepare a plan for what steps to take if and when you begin to see things change.

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