170 - Let's Just Go to the Workshop - How the Breuner Twins Restarted a Furniture Empire

Heidi and Gretchen Breuner are identical twins who live next door to each other and work side by side. They've always been best friends (except for that one time that Heidi etched "I'm mad at Mom and Gretchen" in the windowsill in second grade) and they've always supported each other. What makes their current story so amazing is that it happened by accident.

Overnight, Heidi's exciting startup, Swap T's, went bust when coronavirus hit and shut down schools. It was an interactive tee shirt company that encouraged connection and communication with kids aged K-2. From the first distribution of tees at a school, it was obvious that the concept was working when the shyest kid in the class was suddenly engaged with the others as they excitedly shared stories about their patches. In fact, Swap Ts had so much potential that Heidi's husband quit his job and Gretchen started working with her too.

So when schools closed, and the business had no future before it had really even taken off, Heidi and her husband did what they always did in times of uncertainty - they went into the workshop. That day, unknowingly, they reignited the flame of their iconic family business - Breuners Furniture - a business that had been shut down due to a long ago family feud.

Their story is exactly what we need right now.

For more on the Breuners:

Breuner Furtniture website

Order a table or hat or more: Heck, just send them your ideas!

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