TECUMSEH — Repurposed and More is a new addition to downtown Tecumseh. The store carries a variety of vintage and newer furniture pieces that it will customize to satisfy what the customer wants, as well as other accent and home décor pieces. The store had a “soft opening” over Memorial Day weekend, and officially opened on June 1.
Repurposed and More is owned by Crystal Wormuth, Tammy Dailey and Judy Love, all from Deerfield. While Love is Dailey’s blood mother, she is also “Mama Judy” to Wormuth.
Wormuth is familiar with owning a business in downtown Tecumseh. She previously owned an antique store across the street, which had 32 vendors, before she took time off to take care of her grandson. When the three partners started talking about opening a store together, Wormuth knew where she wanted it to be.
“I knew what Tecumseh had to offer,” Wormuth said. “I knew how they supported their merchants. I knew the programs that they have, and I told Mama Judy that the only place I would go is Tecumseh.”
Repurposed and More looks for pieces “that were Grandma’s,” Wormuth said, describing the variety of merchandise that can be found in the store. From there, Repurposed and More works with customers to refurbish the piece into something that is exactly what the customer might want.
“We try to adjust it to fit somebody’s style,” Wormuth said. She gave the example of a china cabinet that is currently for sale in the store.
“That could be put in a bathroom and hold towels and soaps and stuff and can be painted a color that matches,” Wormuth said. “There’s different ways to use things to make them still work and they’re not in the landfill, they’re not being thrown away.”
“If somebody’s looking for a piece they can come in and say ‘Hey, I’m looking for a table and this is the size I want, and when you find it I want you to paint it this color,’” Dailey said. “Any piece we have in our shop, if they don’t like the color, we have paint swatches, and they can pick a color and Crystal will custom paint it for them.”
Wormuth said that, for a negotiated price, she once drove an hour and a half to pick up a bench that a customer found online, bring it back to Tecumseh, and paint it the color the customer wanted.
Love runs the cash register in the store, handles pricing, and does some of the shopping for the store. She also baked over 100 homemade cookies from her mother’s recipe for the store’s grand opening.
“I’m very excited,” she said.
Dailey said that working with the customer to provide them with an item they want is their aim.
“I think our biggest goal is to be ‘custom customer service,’” she said. “We’re looking to bring value to the customer and to help them with things that they’re looking for and they want.”
Repurposed and More is at 108 E. Chicago Blvd. in Tecumseh. They can be found on Facebook or contacted by phone at 517-301-2440. The store is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
