Windsor SOUP awards entrepreneurs

By Todd Shearon

“And the award goes to …

… Furnish Refurbish.”

While some were winning Grammy awards on Sunday night, two young entrepreneurs were taking home top honours at Windsor SOUP.

Colton Taylor and Cameron Snively are co-founders of Furnish Refurbish which refurbishes old furniture for resale.

“Windsor SOUP is a crowd-funding event where people from the community who have a social enterprise or business can come and make a four-minute presentation on what their project is,” said Katricia Crosby, vice president of logistics for Enactus Windsor. Participants are able to win $1,000 from donating sponsors in addition to the total door revenue (which totaled $490).

Each person in attendance paid a $5 entry donation which got them a bowl of soup, a salad and the opportunity to vote for the evening’s winning presentation.

Taylor said there were a lot more people in attendance than he expected.

“We think furniture is way overpriced,” said Taylor. “We’ve been shopping with our parents and we’ve seen the prices. We just think it’s ridiculous.”

The solution?

Furnish Refurbish take in old furniture to refurbish, restore and resell at affordable prices.

“Everyone values things differently,” said Snively. “The pieces we pick up a lot of people have shown interest in. They like to see that it’s being restored and reused and we’re helping the environment at the same time.”

What started as a “fake idea” came into reality because the pair decided it was also a great idea.

“I think it’s something people haven’t really seen before and it’s an untapped market,” said Snively. “We’re picking up things people don’t see value in and are restoring it. Nobody else really does that nowadays.”

The partners have been developing the business idea for ten weeks and have been in the selling phase for only six weeks mostly using Facebook’s Buy-and-Sell page, along with their own page on the social media platform.

Taylor said they will be considering purchasing more professional equipment to repair product quicker and serve the community on a more efficient basis.

Currently housing their product in a barn owned by Taylor’s grandfather, the company offers free delivery and pickup. They plan to eventually buy a storefront.

“Everyone needs furniture. It’s a human need,” said Taylor. “Instead of throwing it out when people don’t need it anymore, we want to be able to use that and give it to people who are more in need of it.”

Their target audience is anybody in Windsor-Essex County, but they hope to help middle and lower-class residents who want to pay less for furniture.