Business focuses on custom woodwork, local ties

 

 

 

YAKIMA, Wash. – One of the hallmarks of Nate Sabari Woodworks is that Nate Sabari cares about the provenance of the wood he uses to make custom tables, benches, cabinets and even skateboard decks.

Sideboard made from recycled wood.

In their shop at 302 S. First St., Nate and his wife and partner, Sue, are surrounded not just by gorgeous planks of virgin cherry, maple or walnut, but also by stacks of lumber reclaimed from fences, barns and other buildings in the Yakima Valley.

 

So perhaps it isn’t surprising that Nate Sabari Woodworks has a layered and regenerative provenance of its own. You can see it in the wood, but you can also see it in the people. On any given afternoon you might see three generations of Sabaris at the shop.

 

 

Ron Sabari, Nate’s father, started The Pine Shop in the 1980s, making mid-range dressers, bookshelves, bedframes and cabinets for generations of valley residents. Nate grew up in the family shop and worked there periodically during high school and on breaks from Central Washington University.

After college he had a variety of jobs, including work as a kayak instructor and guide, but in 2003 he returned to Yakima with Sue to see if The Pine Shop was something they wanted to commit to. They decided it was.

 

They bought the business in late 2005 and that’s when the trouble started.

 

 

First there was the 2006 fire that didn’t quite destroy the 100-year-old brick building, but did destroy nearly everything inside – including every bit of inventory, raw lumber and most of the equipment.

 

Nate in the workshop.

The Sabaris recovered and had a couple good years, but then the recession hit. As it turns out, furniture makers were hit especially hard.

People who used to be The Pine Shop’s target market were either putting purchases on hold or were heading to the discount superstore. Competing on price was a losing proposition, but the Sabaris weren’t sure what else to do.

 

Instead of calling it quits, they called Linda Johnson, their longtime advisor at the Washington Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Johnson, who works in the Yakima SBDC office, had already been with the Sabaris through tough times: she had helped them work their way out of the mess caused by the fire.

 

“I don’t think we would have made it through that without her,” Sue said.

 

 

SBDC advising is a publicly supported business advising program offered at no cost to small business owners. The Washington SBDC is supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Washington State University and other institutions of higher education and economic development.

Since meeting them in 2006, Johnson had advised the Sabaris on a variety of issues, from how to get the most from their financial statements to how to use Excel to cost out projects. But this time was different. They weren’t struggling with a particular issue; they were struggling with it all.

 

Either they were going to create the business on their own terms, Sue said, or they were going to close.

Johnson encouraged them to think big.

 

“She said we needed to work smarter, not harder,” Sue said. Working smarter, for Nate, meant concentrating on the custom, high-end projects that he was passionate about and letting the mid-range furniture that had been their bread and butter take a secondary role.

 

 

It was a scary proposition. But after they completed their checklist of non-negotiables (no more Saturdays, no more routine 12-hour days), Johnson was there to help them put the pieces in place to support that transformation – from marketing, to branding, to pricing.

 

Johnson also encouraged them to take the NxLevel entrepreneur course offered through the Washington SBDC. The course was a huge help, Sue said, but the one-to-one advising with Johnson was key.

 

“I feel like she really gave us the courage to do this,” Sue said.

 

Along with their decision to focus on high-end projects, they recommitted themselves to indulging their creativity and taking risks—and not just in the woodshop. This spring they plan to start serving a local microbrew at the shop, highlighting the work of local artists and perhaps inviting local musicians to perform.

 

 

The goal, Sue said, is to create the kind of business she and her husband would like to patronize.

 

Nate and Sue’s sons with boards made by Dad.

“As a business, you can plug away and keep doing what you’re doing,” she said, “or you can look at how to impact the community and give back.”

 

Just as Nate grew up in the shop, his own sons, Fritz and Harper, now hang out there as well and likely will grow up in the business. Whether they decide to make it their own is anyone’s guess, but it’s working for their parents.

 

“We just really love what we are doing,” Sue said.

For more information about Nate Sabari Woodworks, go to http://natesabariwoodworks.com. To find the Washington SBDC business advisor nearest you, go to http://wsbdc.org and type in your zip code near the top of the page.

 

 

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Contacts:
Sue Sabari, suelstokes@hotmail.com, 509-452-8247
Linda Johnson, Washington SBDC, linda.johnson@wsbdc.org, 509-454-7612