|
R&M was established in 1985 when members of the Brown family
discovered a demand for used office furniture in the business community.
Sacramento was growing and many companies were relocating or setting
up shop in the area.
Quality, functional office furniture had become an integral
part of a company’s success, while at the same time paying
close attention to the bottom line.
Brown and his family discovered a way to deliver excellent refurbished
office furniture for nearly half the price by scouring the country
to find liquidated furniture from companies that were either going
out of business or upgrading equipment. Next, they stored the furniture
in a 5,000-square-foot Sacramento warehouse from where they began
selling the product to businesses in the region. The concept grew
fast, and R&M blossomed.
Within a year of establishing business, the R&M family moved
into a much larger warehouse.
R&M evolved to selling used/refurbished modular systems made
by Herman Miller. And while selling the modular systems was a good
idea, R&M found that nobody wanted to purchase the product with
the existing colors.
The Brown family thought quickly to add a reupholstering element
to R&M’s services.
Soon, customers were able to visit the R&M warehouse to view
used modular furniture and then hand-select new material from hundreds
of choices.
R&M’s growth would continue, and in 1989 it began offering
new laminates to used furniture. 1996 was a good year. R & M
decided to work on only one manufacturer’s modular system.
After many companies began making after market compatible parts,
it only made sense to stick with Herman Miller panel systems. This
is now what we specialize in, used/refurbished Herman Miller modular
systems (Action Office 1, Action Office 2 and Used Ethospace). “Our
shop can now make custom products of any dimension and still keep
it within factory sizes,” Brown said. “This keeps the
product from being obsolete at a later date.”
And that’s where R&M is at today: Selling good-looking
used office furniture for a fraction of the price.
Brown said the company has found a way to sell “A”
grade furniture with sticker tags that are comparable to those found
at office furniture type clubs or even less.
“People want a good look for their office, but they just
don't want to spend big bucks and they don't want to go to the office
furniture clubs to get cheap furniture,” he said.
“We have found that we can fully refurbish products for the
same or less than cheap club type furniture.”
R&M doesn’t stop at showroom sales. Once a purchase is
made, R&M delivers and builds the modular office system throughout
the state. “We’ve even delivered and installed furniture
to companies in Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New York” It doesn’t
stop there ! “We’ve also shipped many containers of
product to Hawaii and as far away as Australia”.
And while on-site – or from the warehouse sales office –
the R&M crew has the ability to make last-minute changes for
a customer. “We come prepared for all kinds of changes”
Brown said.
“And we can make those changes within hours or a few days
instead of weeks or months,” Brown added. “That's typically
what it takes for contract office furniture dealers to make onsite
modular changes.”
R & M has developed a solid working reputation with the contract
office furniture dealers in the area as well as the local installation
companies.
“We assist each other in taking care of the most important
part of the formula – the customer,” Brown said.
“There's not a week that goes by that a local dealer doesn't
call us for parts or they ask us to pick up surplus on a project
of theirs.
Additionally R&M provides numerous installation companies with
parts to finish reconfigurations.
A big factor to R&M’s success is its dedicated employees
– most of whom have been at the company for more than 10 years.
Brown said many of his clients refer to the employees by name when
calling for service or sales. “This gives us the local family
feeling but we give the big company attention,” he said.
Throughout the years, R&M has remained involved in the community,
not only providing quality office furniture to the business world,
but also as benefactors to several non-profit organizations.
“It is the community that has helped us in our success,”
Brown said.
“We strive to give back to numerous entities in Sacramento
County and surrounding areas using our vast inventory of furniture
as the facilitator.” |
