Photo by Jesse Winters
By rachel phillips
With the Adirondacks so close, there has always been a market for rustic furniture in the area. For one local business, rustic furniture isn’t just a local trend.
Square Nail Rustics, located in Glens Falls, makes hand-crafted farmhouse furniture and wide-plank flooring. Though the business is only a few years old, its widespread popularity both locally and across the country has necessitated the leasing of additional space, according to ownership.
It now has a new showroom and offices at 24 Pine St. in Union Square.
Owner and founder Eric Mattison started Square Nail Rustics in late 2014 out of his garage. In the three years since it began, the company has grown and now employs almost 30 people. At any given time, the business has hundreds of pieces in production at their Dix Avenue facility.
All of Square Nail Rustic’s customizable furniture is made from locally sourced pine board, milled just outside of Lake Placid. Customers have the ability to choose furniture designs in a range of sizes and finishes.
“Most of our business is now out-of-state, and we are crating and shipping to 48 states on a regular basis,” said Mattison.
Mattison attributes the early and continued success of his business to social media. Over the last few weeks since moving into the new showroom, Mattison said they’ve seen customers from seven different states come in to sample furniture before purchasing.
Square Nail Rustic’s new showroom was, in part, intended to provide a “backdrop” for photographing their product line to show off their wares to remote customers. According to Mattison, “our new showroom at Union Square not only affords us more than double the size, it gives us tons of natural light, exposed brick, high ceilings and tons of character. It is the perfect place to showcase our lineup.”
He intends to continue using the internet to market and sell products, and is in the process of setting up his business website, squarenailrustics.com, where customers can view galleries of the products and make purchases.
Mattison said with many local events and sports tournaments in the region lately, he’s seen an influx of business from customers who seek him out because they happen to be in the area.
Realizing their customers are likely to take advantage the proximity to Lake George and the Adirondacks, the business has created a map to direct customers to local shops and eateries.
“We find that customers come to shop and stay the night,” said Mattison.
Mattison said his main focus is managing and keeping up with the business growth. “We’re always working on ways to improve the quality of our products and develop new pieces and designs,” he said.
Down the road, Mattison hopes to increase his customer base through social media, and potentially even open a second facility for manufacturing flooring, which has become a large portion of the business.
The showroom is open every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The phone number is (518) 796-1449.