ReHome | Topeka's Hidden Treasures
By MIRANDA ERICSSON | Photos by BRIAN PETERS
Zach and Anna Haney are on a mission to create the ultimate customer experience and help buyers save money.
ReHome is a monthly liquidation pop-up store offering new overstock merchandise for 40 to 70% off retail prices. They specialize in furniture, home goods, toys, clothing and other products from major big box brands like Gap, Eddie Bauer, Under Armour and beyond. Their clothing inventory is often priced at less than five dollars an item.
Locals who prefer to shop online can participate in the store’s weekly online auctions at www.bigdealbids.com, then pick up their deals at ReHome’s physical location. Every dollar spent online or in person benefits the Topeka community.
“Anna and I love this community and all it has to offer,” Zach said. “We are lifelong Topekans, and never thought about moving anywhere else when we got married.”
Zach’s passion for business dates back to his childhood, when he became one of Topeka’s young entrepreneurs to watch.
“I have always been an entrepreneurial thinker. I’ve loved the idea of being self-employed since I was a child,” Zach said. “My parents were not business owners, and I really wasn’t around other business owners. I had to do all of my own research and find the connections that I could learn from.”
By the time he graduated high school, he’d been honored as one of Topeka’s 20 under 40 and named one of America’s Top 5 Young Entrepreneurs by the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Today, Zach and Anna hope their business sense can make Topeka an even better place to live.
“We love being able to offer people big deals on the things they’re already buying or thinking about buying,” Zach said. “It’s fun that we can provide that to our community as a locally owned business.”
Zach didn’t originally plan to go into the liquidation business, but saw an opportunity to provide for the Topeka community when ReHome’s previous owner was looking to sell. Next, he expanded the store’s outreach by launching their sustainable online auction house Big Deal Bids.
“I always enjoy hearing from our customers that they are able to decorate and furnish their homes and still have money left over,” Zach said. “The diverse inventory we receive makes it a fun experience for us and our customers. We don’t always know what we’re going to get. Unloading all those pallets from the semi-truck and opening them feels like being a kid at Christmas.”
The couple has faced their share of challenges. Perhaps the biggest was when they reduced their hours of operation to a monthly pop-up schedule.
“The real struggle for many independent business owners in the liquidation industry is finding quality inventory at affordable prices,” Zach said. “You really need a consistent flow of inventory, and I learned fairly quickly that the need for cash in this business is very important if you want consistent flows of inventory. We decided creating a monthly pop-up sale would be in our best interest from a staffing standpoint and a cash-flow model. It also allowed us to spend more time on our online sales and local online auctions.”
Zach and Anna were strategic when they chose to open ReHome’s physical location next to the Topeka Vendors Market, which they also own. It allowed the couple to streamline expenses and create a more sustainable business model. Keeping everything together was more convenient and has made it easy to cross-promote their businesses.
“It’s so fun to see how many customers didn’t know our other business existed,” Zach said. “We’ve created new fans of the market and new fans of ReHome.”
The Topeka Vendors Market hosts dozens of small businesses and creators from the Topeka community.
“It’s so exciting when we hear that a business is expanding because of the start they received at the market,” Zach said.
Zach and Anna have more plans in the works. Both are passionate about empowering families to achieve financial freedom and build fulfilling lives. This summer they’ll launch Thrive Academy, an online community offering courses and resources focused on business ownership, creating amazing marriages and establishing lasting legacies.
“Our goal is to provide families with the tools and support they need to thrive both financially and personally, fostering strong, enduring relationships along the way,” Zach said.
The couple encourages others to carefully consider where they spend their dollars, and to support local businesses whenever possible.
“There is something different about a business being owned locally,” Zach said. “When people shop at ReHome and bigdealbids.com, they’re truly supporting a locally owned family business and other local families. Our local Topeka businesses create unique experiences for our community. We need to rally behind them and offer support.
TK
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