Furniture store ramps up marketing efforts

RICHFIELD SPRINGS — During a recession, buying new furniture may be about the last thing on anyone’s mind, but now that the economy is showing signs of continued recovery, Jeffrey Sarafin is hoping to take advantage of that momentum and boost business at his furniture store.

Sarafin established Jeff’s Handcrafted Amish Furniture four years ago when he purchased the former Miller’s Furniture. He didn’t disclose financial terms of that deal. Sarafin spent eight years as a salesperson for American Homes in Richfield Springs before taking over the furniture business, located in the Price Chopper Plaza on Route 20.

The high quality of the Amish handcrafted furniture really appealed to him, he says. It has appealed to customers as well, just not quite at the volume he’d like to see.

Sarafin says he has built up business from customer referrals and the Amish name. “The Amish name is a trustworthy name,” he says. “When I bring up Amish, it sells itself.” Amish artisans in Holmes County, Ohio handcraft the majority of Sarafin’s offerings. He also works with a few local Amish crafters.

The store draws customers from New Hartford, Utica, Cooperstown, and even as far away as Albany, Sarafin says. He even sold furniture to a Texas couple passing through the area in their motor home that spotted a dining set they just had to have.

His goal this year is to make more people across the Mohawk Valley aware of his business and help draw them into the store. Once he has them inside, the furniture sells itself, he says. It’s just making people aware of the store and getting them there that has been the hard part.

To boost awareness of his store, he’s undertaking a marketing effort with WUTR, the local ABC affiliate, which airs on Time-Warner channel 7. 

“That’s probably my biggest thing I have in the works right now,” Sarafin says. He’ll be meeting later this month with someone from the station to develop and create his commercials. At this time, he doesn’t know what his budget for the marketing effort is, and hasn’t set a goal on how much he’d like to see the advertising increase sales.

“I’m just trying to branch out to people,” Sarafin says. He also does some newspaper advertising from time to time in area papers including Utica’s Observer-Dispatch. “I’m just looking for more exposure,” he says.

Jeff’s 3,000-square-foot showroom displays an array of dining room and bedroom furniture, entertainment centers, desks, bookshelves, chairs, and cedar chests. The products are special for a number of reasons, Sarafin says. First, they are all handcrafted with real wood. There isn’t any furniture made of compressed sawdust in his showroom, he notes.

“The biggest thing is it is custom,” he says of his offerings. People have the choice of buying a piece from the showroom, or, if they like a certain piece but want it in a different wood or different finish, they can order that and have it handcrafted for them.

“Every piece gets built from scratch,” he says. People can also bring in a photo of a space or measurements and Sarafin will help them custom craft just the right piece of furniture to meet their needs. That’s something that larger retailers like Carl’s Furniture City or Raymour & Flanagan, both with Utica–area stores, just can’t do, he says.

Along with his other marketing efforts, Sarafin also promotes his store online at www.jeffsamishfurniture.webs.com and on Facebook, where he has 185 fans and features photos of the furniture. Sarafin is the sole employee with no immediate plans to hire anyone.