About
The Story of Doc’s Upholstery & Refinishing Shop, Inc.
I graduated from Belvidere High School in 1971 not knowing what to do with myself. I wasn’t the smartest on the block but was willing to work. I had a job after school buffing floors at GTE in their cafeteria in Genoa to make payments on a car that took me to work, so I could pay for the car. Already at eighteen I was caught in the system.
My father owned a small grocery store in Roscoe IL where I went to work after I graduated. He taught me how to break a beef and cut the meat in the meat room. It’s always hard to work for family, so off I went looking for work. Knowing how to cut meat I went to work for a large food store chain.
After working a few year’s, walking in and out of the cooler, I was offered a job in a buddy’s upholstery shop in Belvidere. Knowing how to work with my hands, I took off like a pro. The sewing machine, pattern making, padding adjustments and stapling came to me very quickly.
After a few year’s working for him I wanted to be my own boss, so I started a shop in my mother’s garage. It was hard at first to build up a client list. At times when it was slow I would go to auctions and buy antique pieces to resell. Many times, those old pieces needed more than just reupholstering. They needed repairing and refinishing to complete the job and make the piece sell better.
So off I go learning by doing. Finding new products, buying tools, looking for a wood source and collecting old furniture parts to reuse. Once the pieces were completed I would set-up at flea-markets to sell them. The pieces sold very well, people would always ask me who did the work. When I would tell them that I had, they would want me to work some pieces they had. After a few years I got so busy I wasn’t able to do the work and set up at the flea-markets. I also had outgrown the garage. The years I spent at the flea-markets gave me a lot of knowledge regarding antique furniture I now knew how the upholstery should look and the different kinds of woods used in each era.
All of this led me to look for my first store front in Belvidere. I found a two room store front next to McDonalds that was on the end of a converted motel. I put the sewing machine in the back room and built a drop-leaf cutting table in the front. I would push whatever I was working on against the wall so I could raise up the leaf when I needed to cut fabric. It worked well for me.
Of course I was still living at home. My mom worked at night to support my younger two brothers and sister. A few year’s later I had outgrown that shop and found one in the Belvidere downtown area that was four times the size of my old shop. It was right on State Street with big windows to display my completed work. It was rough at first, more rent and overhead. I had a little trouble with my mom and had to live in the shop. It wasn’t too bad. I would close the shop, pull a curtain across the windows and pulled out the roll-away. The shop had a bathroom with a utility sink, but no shower. I would connect a hose to the faucet and stand in the utility sink to shower. I also had a hot-plate and a refrigerator. Money was very tight so macaroni & cheese and toast was my dinner many nights. My grandmother would do my laundry and bring me a care package every once in awhile. It was a little tough at times but I was determined to do this for the rest of my life and make it work.
As time went on my business grew and so did my overhead. In 1992 I made a move to buy some land and build a building, which is my present location. It’s well located, it gave me good exposure and I also had room to expand and I did.
Today I have seven employees, a three story Victorian house filled with the antique furniture that I love. Working in the upholstery and refinishing business is like working in a candy store for me. We all know that you can’t work in a candy store without having some candy. A lot more overhead, but my business has quadrupled.
It’s a lot of work, but I have a lot to be thankful for. It’s not really work if you enjoy the people and love what you do. I’m not driving a Cadillac but I guess I don’t want one.
I am involved with a lot of charities in Boone County and I enjoy that. I believe that if you live here give here.
It’s nice to know who you’re doing business with.
Kraig "Doc" Bryan
