Why I'm grateful for Everything But The House

This past week it was announced that Everything But the House is going to be liquidated.  I’m not going to get into my thoughts about why this has happened or the ridiculous decisions that were made that led to this moment.  I just want to express my gratitude for what the company allowed us to do and for the fantastic people that we’ve gotten to know.

Andrea worked for EBTH when they still had an office in Indianapolis, and when I quit my job two years ago to start this business we were selling exclusively through EBTH.  

Last spring, Andrea decided to leave her job with EBTH to focus on our business full time.  One week after she resigned, EBTH announced that they were closing Indianapolis (and 20 other markets).  This is when we got serious about curating a shop full of things that we love.

Over half of our monthly sales are still through EBTH Columbus and Chicago, so this is a challenging scary transition.  But rather than feeling afraid or angry, we mostly feel thankful. 

Without EBTH we never would have started this business or had the confidence that each of us can make this our full-time living.  EBTH has also given us insight into what is current, what people want and are willing to pay a premium for, etc.  

Andrea has a freakish memory for the sale prices of obscure objects, and working at EBTH allowed her to touch hundreds of things a day and learn exactly what they are worth.  Working at EBTH taught her how to do the fantastic product photography that you see on our site.

Ironically, last night we hosted a party for the former Indy EBTH employees.  To our friends in Columbus, Chicago, and Cincinnati we want you to know that all of our hearts go out to you in this uncertain moment, and that everyone will land on your feet.  Everyone from Indy is doing great...lots of us started our own small businesses (one estate sale company, one company running vintage & arts weekend events, several resellers, etc.).  Working at EBTH teaches you a lot about how to succeed (despite a lot of unnecessary challenges).