Small Business: How this Charlotte businessman turns yard sale finds into stylish furniture
Michael Lankford is the owner of Reinvented Charlotte, a 9,000 square-foot furniture store located in South End. The showroom offers a wide variety of new and used furniture for any style home or apartment. Their specialty is finding vintage pieces and restoring them with paint and water-based lacquer.
Lankford, 46, is a Californian with North Carolina roots. He has an eye for design and a personality to charm just about anyone. Lankford moved to Charlotte in 2013 and opened his showroom in NoDa three years ago. The business expanded quickly and he needed more showroom and shop space.
According to Lankford, he’s had an interest in entrepreneurship, design and repurposing items since he was a kid.
“I would go to flea markets and buy stuff and try to flip them. I was always an entrepreneur,” he said. He’s worked in retail for 31 years, and in home accessories and décor at Neiman Marcus and other major retail companies.
Furniture and other vintage items in the showroom are scouted out by “pickers” – people who shop auctions, and yard and estate sales. Lankford and the picker agree on a price and arrange for pickup. Pieces may come from anywhere, but most are from the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Lankford prides himself in offering quality products for reasonable prices. New, locally-made sofas range from $795-$1,995; vintage dressers run from $350-$1,250, and a pair of custom chairs are $995-$1,095. Decorative accessories like lamps, artwork, vases, bowls, greenery and even cowhide rugs are arranged throughout the showroom and available for purchase. Lankford also provides home staging and interior design services.
Lankford answered questions for C5’s Small Business Series:
How does someone commit to being an entrepreneur?
“I think that takes a lot of thought and preparedness because when you do that, you need to be 100 percent in and you have to continue, no matter what. No matter how bad it gets. Take a day, brush off your knees and whatever, and start again. Period.”
What would you do if your business failed?
“Start another business … after I cried for a while.
“I don’t think I’d make a very good employee anymore. I live and breathe what I do. Even when I am off, I’m not off. I take it really personally when things are great and I take it even more personally when things are not great.”
Where do you get your business ideas?
“I listen a lot. I read a lot. I watch. I see what other people are doing. Sometimes what they are doing that didn’t work is far more valuable than what did.”
What do you look for in a good employee?
“I look for someone who is happy. Someone who is smart, doesn’t have to be educated. Be able to be creative, kind, excited about design and working with people.”
What has social media done for Reinvented Charlotte?
“I don’t think we’d be here without it. We post daily and we spend a good deal of money making that happen. It’s our way of contacting our current clients and also reaching new clients. People say all the time, ‘I’m not exactly sure where I saw you, but I know I’ve heard of you.’ And that’s the whole point.
“Three to five times a day people will walk through the door and say, ‘I’ve been following you for a long time.’ They kind of feel like they have a rapport with us and know who we are.”
Reinvented Charlotte: 3530 DeWitt Lane, (704) 340-7023
Photos: Reinvented Charlotte
Family history and my own fascination with people and their motivations prompted me to begin this series about Charlotte’s small business owners. Industry, situation and questions will vary. Have a suggestion for a small business owner or entrepreneur to interview? Email it to vanessainfanzon@gmail.com with the subject line “Small Business Series.”
This story was originally published May 9, 2017 at 11:49 PM.