St. Augustine small town, but in actuality, the growth experienced over the last 10 years is setting us up to be a major wave maker in not just travel, leisure, and community, but mostly commerce. What once was a quaint drinking village with a fishing problem is now a place where mom and pop shops have the chance to evolve into nationwide franchises – that’s especially true for the future of Everything Cool.
A pit stop on a trip to the keys brought Florida natives, Ken and Gloria to St. Augustine and they haven’t left since. In the past 8 years, they’ve turned a flea market side hustle to a multi-million dollar furniture store spanning 4 storefronts in St. Augustine, and they want to take what they’ve done here and help other entrepreneurs do the same in their city. So, what’s their secret sauce?
Ken and Gloria are the kind of couple you want to break bread with. They have a laid back, neighborly vibe with a “stop at nothing” energy powering the way they run their stores – locally, with national impact. Gloria says “we’ve always called ourselves your ‘neighborhood furniture store” but the word neighborhood could give the impression of small and limited. That’s not the case for Everything Cool.
Being a locally owned store, they know the competitive edge they have over national retailers is to connect with local residents just by simply offering better service than they can get anywhere else. “Help the customer even if it costs us,” says Ken.
Selection doesn’t suffer in the name of service either. Everything Cool has the largest in-stock inventory of new furniture in St. Augustine, now with a cumulative 20,000 sq. ft. between their two locations and warehouses. “Anything you see [in the store] we can have in stock or deliver it,” says Ken, adding, “That’s like 54,000 products.”
Ken and Gloria go to great lengths to curate a selection of furnishings that fit under their brand umbrella of “Everything Cool.” Working with many different manufacturers, they carry high-end American made furniture that is affordable. They can furnish every room inside (and outside) of your house. Think dining room sets, side tables, tv consoles, oversized sectionals equipped with stain-proof fabric and the kind of outdoor furniture guaranteed to last 20 years. Seriously. To keep with the cool factor, their in-stock solid wood frame Murphy Beds aren’t the kind that affix to the wall and take up a bunch of space. Instead, they function as compact sideboards when not in use. If you want Adirondack chairs for your yard this summer -this is the place to buy them.
Gloria says “Show me what you fell in love with online and we’ll show you how we can deliver it to your home today.”
Specialty requests are no issue for them. You can sit down with one of their designers at the Design Center to explore
all their fabric, wood, leg, and hardware samples. Design service comes complimentary with furniture purchases and if you’re too busy to make it in person, you can send them your floor plan. They specialize in designing entire home packages and will even mail you swatches and samples so you can see what your options look like in real life. They also offer an in-house service for $199 where they will come out to your home, measure and come up with a design plan. The fees are waived with large furniture purchases.
When you’ve found “the one,” their in-house, 5-star team will deliver it, white gloves and all, even moving your furniture in, assembling it and providing clean up so you are ready to enjoy your newly designed home. Taking the definition of full service full circle, they’ll even file your warranties to protect your furniture for years to come.
Everything Cool offers interior decorating packages for whole houses, condo, apartments and short-term rentals like Airbnb. This turnkey service is especially popular with homeowners relocating to the area who can send floor plans and decor ideas to designers remotely so their home is move-in ready when they arrive. In fact, Everything Cool can even store your furniture in their warehouse if needed until homeowners close on their property.
Here’s the kicker – you can get the same type of 0% interest for 60 months financing like at every other major home store, at this mom and pop shop too.
And all of that didn’t happen overnight, which is why they are so determined to turn their experience into a launching pad for other entrepreneurs who aspire to own their own retail store, butdon’t necessarily want to start from scratch. They can start with Everything Cool.
We built a 30-year business in eight years,” says Ken. While retail can be a finicky business, and there is a lot of ‘economy’ talks to scare someone away from growth, Ken and Gloria (and their team of over 15) have mastered the equation between service and availability to be a serious competitor in the market. And it’s their local customers, who continue to shop local, they have to thank.
Ken smiles at thoughts of the future saying “St. Augustine is all good – we’ve got a big cross and Everything’s Cool.”
