Our Homenclature Story
It was September 2006, Amanda had just returned from maternity leave with their second child and Shayne was a high school history teacher and head football coach at his Alma mater. Amanda had been with a medical sales company for eight years and was now managing all aspects of the business. Her compensation mirrored her dedication and loyalty to her work but so did the hours. She had reached a tipping point, baby number three. It was true, Shayne and Amanda had toyed around with the idea of buying a franchise because they knew they always wanted to work for themselves. However many franchise models we're not conducive to bringing your children to work. Amanda came home from work one day just weeks after returning from maternity leave and told Shayne they were pregnant again and she had quit her job. After she helped Shayne off the kitchen floor of their newly purchased home, she explained she had negotiated a fantastic severance package that would afford her to spend one year at home with their new babies. Baby number three arrived happy and healthy in June right on schedule. Did we mention that Shayne was also a student? His career in education was advancing as well as his dedication to students. A few months after Micah was born, Amanda was getting a bit stir crazy in those NWI winter months. She announced to Shayne that she was ready to open her own business. He knew that headhunters had been calling and assumed that the business would of course be in nuclear medicine due to Amanda's education in biotechnology and former medical sales experience. She quickly corrected him, a bad habit of hers, that it wouldn't be in the medical field but rather a furniture store. She explained that every home store around them had the same stuff and was typically poor quality or really expensive. Many of the local stores looked the same inside and everything was brown (granted now everything is gray). They agreed that she was quite handy with a power tool and had quite a bit of her mother's creative talents but her father's head for numbers. Some ground rules were set: no money would be borrowed to start this business and if it ever came to a point that the business was not self-sustaining, it would be closed. Amanda began garbage picking, flea marketing, and re-purposing. Shayne often times took the kids to football practice. Both sets of parents and GiGi, shayne's grandmother we're constantly offering a helping hand. Homenclature was officially incorporated in 2007 and opened it doors in Munster, IN on a local Election Day in May 2008 just months before the mortgage crisis/crash. Originally, our model was re-purposed and gently used, unique furniture in a modest 3600 square foot space at the backend of a strip mall next to the local neighborhood bar. Though we had stockpiled inventory for nearly 8 months prior to opening, we (Amanda, one full-time employee, and one part-time employee ) had sold everything in about the first two months. With two girls (Liv 26 months, Micah 11 months) and Jake in second grade, we quickly realized we would have to source inventory elsewhere. Amanda began perusing craigslist late at night in search of great furniture clustered in the same geographical areas. An old uhaul box truck was purchased for $2200. Amanda also began her mornings early to blow through neighborhood garage sales, estate sales and auctions before the store opened, all the while with the support of Shayne every step of the way. As time went on, Amanda decided to take it one step further and start utilizing her sales experience. She began cold calling warehouses, distribution centers, shipping companies and furniture manufacturers. As it turns out, there's a lot of broken stuff laying around in warehouses. First just a few pieces at a time and then by the truckload, Amanda began purchasing salvage product. She and her repair man began fumbling through learning how to repair every type of furniture under the sun. Business was good so Amanda decided with Shayne's approval to double the size of their store since the space next to them was also empty. Despite being pulled in 50 different directions between business, school and family, Shayne's career advanced to assistant principal and then one of the youngest principal's in Indiana. He was inducted into the hammond athletic Hall of Fame and, according to Amanda, should have received the husband and father of the year Award as well. It was now 2011. Shayne came home from work the night of his birthday dinner and date night might I add, and asked how I felt about hosting foreign exchange students. I politely answered that I thought it would be a great idea once the girls were a little bit older to appreciate such an experience. Shayne quickly asked, "how about in two hours?" I then ran to our store to get the furnishings for a bedroom for not one but two teenage boys, Ali from Kenya and serhiy from Ukraine. The school year came and went. Amanda and Shayne found a lot in Valparaiso that was perfect to build their dream home and raise their children. Their house sold in a matter of days and they moved in with Amanda's mom and dad for 10 months. Amanda and Shayne served as the general contractors for the new home. We moved in in June 2012. With just 10 months left on their five-year lease, Shayne and Amanda started looking for property in Valparaiso to relocate the store. On June 6, 2013, Homenclature closed it's doors in Munster and re-opened in a large warehouse in Valparaiso. We expanded from 7200 ft.² to 20,000, and now nearly 30000. The building is an old wiper blade factory that Amanda had to petition to re-zone from industrial to retail. Hot in the summer and cold in the winter, the warehouse at 360 S. Campbell proved to be a good home for Homenclature and we are proud we were able to revitalize a part of our city. With sales, responsibilities and demands constantly increasing, Shayne resigned from his position as Asst Superintendent of RF School Corp and officially joined Homenclature in July of 2015. Shayne was exactly what Homenclature needed. He of course hit the ground, not just running, but sprinting like Usain Bolt. He quickly started crunching numbers, and implemented much needed policies and procedures. In 2020 Homenclature moved to our permanent home at 902 Calumet Avenue and immediately set our sites on improving another area within our city. Our new home is getting more and more beautiful and we are thrilled when our devoted customers come in and see the evolution of our business. If you have not been in yet, come and see what all the fuss is about. Homenclature is definitely a unique experience for everyone.
