We recently connected with Joe Donahue and have shared our conversation below.

Joe, appreciate you joining us today. One of the toughest parts of scaling a business is maintaining quality as you grow. How have you managed to maintain quality? Any stories or advice?

We have 2 parts of the company so we have to make sure both are maintained with the highest quality.

We have a Live Edge / Epoxy wood working side that deals with being meticulous with every job so that when the customer comes to approve it they are blown away with the attention to detail. and the quality we present to them.

The other side is furniture consignment where we deal with selling other peoples items. This is such a great part of the business because it’s like going back in time to where the items came from where you learn so much and get a great appreciation for them. This comes with taking care of them and making sure they work or look like they once did. We really want the items to look great on the showroom floor. So we do our best to fix them up or give them a good cleaning and get them showroom ready.

That’s not even getting into the moving of these pieces. That can be tricky but we have trained staff that helps get the items safely in and out of the store. We take a lot of pride in helping customers or consignors move their items to and from the car safely.

Joe, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi my name is Joe Donahue. I went to school for industrial design and have always had an eye for quality. I got into my industry from taking over a consignment shop that could be doing a lot better. I always wanted to start a design firm and I looked at the consignment shop like it way an opportunity to achieve that goal. I started by making tables out of a close / back room. We were learning so much in the beginning on what works and doesn’t. That being said, we solve problems all the time big and small. I think the ability to problem solve in the way we do sets us apart from others.

We are very proud of the products we sell and produce. We have so many things going on and it can be tricky to transition from one part of the business to the other but we seem to manage especially when it comes to making sure our clients / customers are satisfied.

What I would want people to know about us is that we really do care about the second hand furniture industry and repurposing anything from wood to materials even to little trinkets. There is a lot of things like furniture being produced everywhere and some has become cheap and really a waste of resources. We have a great history in our country and over seas of outstanding used furniture pieces. All I ask is to explore second before buying new. I get it if you cant find what you were looking for and you have to buy new. I’ve done it myself.

My brand is vision. What I mean by that is to be creative in the way you see things and to get outside of the box you are currently in. It helps design and makes it to a point where people will let you know how much it moved them. That’s where the term “conversation piece” comes from I think….

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

Buying a business is a great and terrifying story. Hahaha… It was like this where someone needed to get out and I wanted in. The process wasn’t that bad but the aftermath was an ordeal where we needed to be more organized with everything involved. For example the lease on the property, The passwords and pins to different things. It got done but it could have been smoother.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Covid we needed to pivot. We had no idea what was going on and we just needed to get back to work even though we didn’t have any. We made up fake jobs to work on and really pushed the envelope on our limits when it came to making the live edge epoxy table. We made huge leaps on capabilities in the craft. I don’t know if we would have been as good if not for covid stopping us in our tracks. It gave us many different tracks to go down so that we could come out on top.

Contact Info:

• Website: Urbanburbfurniture.com
• Instagram: @urbanburbfurniture
• Facebook: Urbanburb Furniture