When Randi Reed told her husband she was pregnant, one of his first comments was that he wanted to make their child’s crib. From there, not only was their son given a hand-made crib, another dream was born – Haus of Reed, a custom furniture manufacturing business.
“That is the humble beginnings of Haus of Reed,” said Randi who founded Haus of Reed with her husband, Tim. “I found a 42-inch diameter mattress and Tim built the crib around it using just two screws and old-school woodworking techniques.”
Led by Tim, Randi and their two full-time employees, Haus of Reed makes custom furniture products out of solid wood, metal and glass fiber reinforced concrete. Their company is 100 percent American made and over 90 percent of their material is sourced locally from within two miles of their shop in Sparks.
From a Garage to a Storefront
Both Randi and Tim moved to Las Vegas in 2002 not knowing one another but both hungry for the next step – Tim wanted to expand his hospitality project management skills and Randi wanted to further her involvement in the architectural, engineering and construction realm. The Reed’s started their dream business in their two-car garage in Las Vegas in 2012. The following year, they relocated to Reno and a three-car garage. In early 2016, they acquired a 4,000 square foot space in Sparks and added two-full time employees in 2017.
“Everything has come full circle,” Randi said. “Two years ago when we opened our store we were just excited to have our name on the door. Now, we have two full-time employees, work for Fortune 10 companies and have clients all over the U.S. It’s surreal.”
Collaboration with a National Brand
Eight months after opening their brick and mortar shop, the Reed’s were asked to collaborate with West Elm to be featured in their “local makers” section. Haus of Reed’s products flew off the shelves and they were soon getting order requests from other West Elm stores in southern Nevada. From there, West Elm selected Haus of Reed as a business to focus on in one of three emerging markets nationally. As part of that selection, Haus of Reed was featured in a national TV spot that ran in southern and northern California and Las Vegas markets as well as YouTube Channels, the Food Network and the Discovery Channel.
“It was incredible,” Randi said of being chosen by West Elm. “The most insane opportunity was when we were asked to provide 20 cutting boards and concrete coasters as gifts for the entire Board of Directors of West Elm. It was an amazing opportunity to be synonymous with such an impeccable brand.”
Why Nevada?
In addition to the work Haus of Reed does work for local customers they also have a national customer base as well including Walt Disney, Caesar’s Entertainment, Marriott and Starwood brands and Freemark Abby Winery. With their popularity nationwide, why build their brand in Nevada?
“Nevada is community driven and this state has always been the definition of opportunity for Tim and me,” Randi said. “With a smaller community, we found an abundance of local resources, which allowed us to find our shop space quickly, get our small business loan funded quickly and find incredible local suppliers.”
From finding quality employees in Nevada to working with organizations who help meet the needs of their business, like NV Energy who helped retrofit both their garage in Las Vegas and brick and mortar space in Sparks to ensure they had the energy needs to meet their business demands, the Reed’s can’t imagine being anywhere else.
“I don’t know if we’d be at the level we are at today if we weren’t in Reno,” Randi said. “This community really gets behind small business and does everything it can to elevate your business to the next level. I would be remiss to exclude Las Vegas, as those are our roots in more ways than one, and we still do a lot of business down there. We just absolutely love Nevada.”
Featured photo courtesy of Hotel Talisa in Vail, CO