Category Archives: press

Our Haunted Phoenix Warehouse

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I wanted to wish everybody a Happy Halloween!  Not many people know this, but our shop has some friendly spirits in it. The place has been around since the 40s so it has some history. We’ve named one of our residents “Henry” and to date we’ve had around 25 different unexplained events at the shop. Many have seen an old guy walking around in overalls. But he always seems to disappear after looking for him…

“The White Hair Man” By Elijah

Happened on a crisp October morning last year. I went to work as usual at Vintage Industrial. Clocked in and then shortly began to use the plasma cutter located by an entry way that lead into the other side of the building (which we didn’t occupy at the time). It had a piece of particle board shoved in it, but you could still see inside. So I started cutting….. and out of nowhere I felt this uneasy presence. I looked up towards there, and in the distance, saw a man with dark clothing and noticeably white hair! I then quickly went to the other side only to discover that no one was there! The “white hair man” was gone.  I then asked my co-workers if they had seen anyone walking around and the all said no. So in my conclusion, I’m absolutely convinced that I saw a ghost like figure on the other side of the shop on one crisp October morning.

 

Greg’s stories

  1. When we first moved in here, I needed to paint the bathroom.  There was no electricity in there yet so I stuck a door jamb under the door to keep it open. As I was rolling the paint on the wall, the door slammed shut. It was pitch dark in there and I opened up the door and shoved the wood door jamb in there again, this time making sure it was in there tight, and started painting again. A minute later it slammed shut again. This time I said “STOP IT HENRY!” Opened up the door, stuck a chair in front of it, and it didn’t happen again.
  2. I was in the shop (all by myself) working on my new lamp on a Saturday afternoon. I kept feeling like there was somebody behind me in the doorway. So I turned around, but there was nobody there.  Also thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, but there was nobody there. This repeated many many times that day. Seems to be pretty common occurrence in our shop!
  3. A couple months ago, I was the last one on the shop finishing up a couple things. So I did my rounds, turned everything off, and proceeded to head to the front door to leave. I heard this crackling noise coming from around the garbage can. So I went over there to investigate. I thought maybe somebody was behind the garbage can making the sound so I was a little nervous since I was supposed to be there by myself.  As I got closer to the garbage can, the crackling got louder. The sound was seemed to be coming out of nowhere. There was nobody there, and I looked in the garbage and nothing in there was making noise. So I ran outside to see if maybe somebody was making the noise out there. Nobody was there.  Maybe it was our mischievous ghost Henry?

Ramon’s Stories

  1. I only have three encounters while working at Vintage industrial. One evening when I was working on a job I put my welding helmet down over my face to begin a weld and saw some one walk up on the other side of my table. Knowing the jokes that went around the shop to a new welder I was under the assumption that another worker was about to mess with my wire speed or something.  So rather than beginning the weld I looked up with my eyes and helmet still over my face looked right at the individual standing there with blue jeans and a black t shirt.  He was facing the west wall of the shop doing something that i couldn’t make out threw the welding lens, almost as if he didn’t know I was there, or any one else for that matter.  After a few seconds of him not leaving I reached for my helmet with my right hand and in the fraction of a second it took me to lift it with my eyes still on him there was no one there. I looked around, and to my surprise, not a single sole was around as the workers were at their stations.
  2. The second account came one evening when everyone was gone and me and a nother employee were doing overtime to rap up some unfinished business.  The back door to the shop was open and I looked up and saw some one walk in the back door at a fast pace.  I was under the impression that someone was trying to come in and take something.  As I ran to the back of the shop the other employee fallowed me and  after scowering the shop there was no one there.
  3. Maybe just a freak chance or my eyes playing tricks on me, but the third occasion was no freak accident. I was working in the back of the shop at the wood area.  The other two workers were off doing their work on the other side. I was sanding a table top and the forklift was parked behind me a considerable ways away.  I heard the horn start to honk. I turned around to see who was honking it and to my surprise there was no one there. As it still blared off for what seemed to be about a good 20 seconds, the other wood worker walked up right as the horn stopped. I looked at the other guy and said “did you hear that?” He replied to me that he had and asked me who did it saying “look theres no one there.”  We both walked over to the forklift only to confirm our suspicions. But as we did I remembered that I was looking right at the horn while it was honking and there was no hand pushing it. Coincidence? I think not on that one lol! Hope you enjoyed this as it is true.

Domonick’s Stories

  1. One day at work I came in and started a normal day not thinking anything about what might catch my eye. So here I am doing a job cutting my parts and on my right side there is a door way to the other side of the shop, which was vacant at the time. In the door way there is a piece of plywood that is placed there to block it and through a small opening. I can see to the other side. Well as I am cutting my parts see someone’s shadow walk across so I assume it is one of my co-workers. So I look through to the other side to make a loud noise to scare my co-worker but as I look, I see no one. Looked around the shop to see if anyone is on the other side and to my surprise everyone is in plain view. So I pay no mind to what I’d just seen and think to myself “I might just be losing my mind”. So back to cutting my parts and I see the shadow walk past again, so I look once again, no one is on that side of the shop. To make myself feel that I am not going crazy I begin to walk to my co-workers to tell them what I had just seen. Just as I leave my area the board that was placed in the door way had fallen on the spot where I was standing and cutting my parts so it would have fell on top of my head and may have injured me. Was that a sign, coincidence, or a message from who or whatever I had seen? You decide.
  2. On another occasion I was the first to arrive at work. So I opened up the shop to prepare for the day. I open the doors, turn on the lights and head to the bathroom to wash up. As I am in the bathroom I hear every little sound in the shop because I am the only one here and nobody has arrived yet. So here I am in the bathroom and heard someone breathing over my shoulder. I can feel the warm air on the side of my face so I think someone has came in quietly and is trying to play a prank on me. I turn around to see who it is and no one is there. Again I stand there and think that I am losing my mind, and as I stand there bewildered I feel the warm air and breathing sounds of someone as if they were trying to speak in my ear. So I get spooked and leave the bathroom. I can’t say exactly who or what that was but it wasn’t human.

 

Vintage Industrial Furniture in the News…

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Yesterday we were featured on the cover of the Arizona Business Gazette and on the cover of the Arizona Republic in the business section.  It was a nice surprise to hear about this. Needless to say, we’ve been flooded with calls and emails. We’re doing our best to get back to everybody!  STORY HERE

And another in the Biz Journal.

And another at –> Core77

We don’t have a retail showroom setup just yet, but we can show you some current pieces we are working on for clients. You’ll need to make an appointment if you want to visit our shop. Please call 602-322-111 to make an appointment. Our address is 45 W. Buchanan Ave in downtown Phoenix.

And here are some pieces shipping out soon along with our logo that we’re playing around with:

We’re Expanding Again

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Vintage Industrial has been a little cramped with the 6,000 sf we had, so we’ve decided to add another 14,000 sf. It’s kind of hard to believe that we have 20,000 sf of warehouse now, but it’s true! We’re still in the same location, just using both sides of the historic Neil B McGinnis building now. Our plans for the new space include adding some spectacular showrooms with many new products, a new distribution area, offices, and more.

Just wanted to thank all of the people that supported us, fans, customers, and our awesome employees! We couldn’t have done this without you.

New shirts, site pages, and designs

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We’re having company shirts silk-screened and will have them by the end of the month. They will price around $23 + $5 shipping and are American made (of course). The pics below are a rendition of how it’ll look. I’m also in the process of designing a new bar height table called Liberty. It’s pictured with some classic Emeco bar stools.

Also changed the home page and added some more pages including: Restaurant Furniture, Press, and a Blog link.

 

We’re in NYC this week

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We were invited by the DIY network to help with a show this week. It should air around Father’s Day. Some of our products and I will be on the Man Cave show as well as the Today Show (hopefully) on NBC.  It’s been an exciting week, weather has been nice too. That’s finished and we’re in the city for the next couple days.

My partner and wife Sim, Jenna Wolfe from the Today show, and I.

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Big Thanks to the Crew at VI

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I wanted to give a big thanks to the crew at VI for a job well done! Our first install at Lamb and Flag went through without a hitch. Our crew worked lots of over time, some a double shift, to get it all done. I think I worked a triple shift last week.

We took a much needed break to celebrate and had a bowl off. Gratz to Gabe for winning the tournament! L&F is opening up the first store around December 19th in Brea, California at the Brea Mall so be sure to check it out. And there are many more stores to follow. The space is absolutely stunning, be sure to check it out, and their clothing is very cool too.

We get a couple days break, then back to work on several new big projects many new designs. We are booked up 8-12 weeks right now and are thinking of expanding the shop once again to get our lead time down some.  Might have a showroom too in the near future. And we’re going to be published in several other magazines with hopes of some national attention, and maybe a reality TV show, oh boy. Yes we’re on fire here!

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Growth

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What an interesting ride it’s been! Last year we were working out of a studio at my house. And today we’re in a 6000 sf historical warehouse. We’ve hired several awesome employees in the last month. I’m trying to keep our lead time down under 6 weeks which has been a challenge, while trying to keep the manpower available to work on new design ideas, of which there are many (keep your eyes out for some commercial quality chairs and stools coming soon). We’re working on getting in several retail stores (finally), building a center piece table for a sports talk show, building fixtures for retail stores, and basically expanding the company on a monthly basis in every way. I was told yesterday that we should put together a press kit which sounds like a good idea, just too busy at the moment building and designing!!

So I just wanted to thank our fans, friends, employees, customers and my wife for everything you’ve done to support us on this crazy roller coaster ride! There’s been some growing pains for sure, but it’s so worth it for the end result.

We’ve Moved and We’re Hiring Welders / Fabricators

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All this week we were moving to our new shop located in downtown Phoenix. We’ll have it all setup next week.  Our lead time has been 4-6 weeks for too long and my goal is to get it to 2-4 weeks. We are also hiring welders with fabrication experience so please spread the word if you know somebody. Hard workers with good attitudes will be compensated for their effort!

EDIT: We’ve found several great people and are no longer hiring at the moment.

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We’re Moving to a Historic Industrial Space!

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I wanted to say thank you to all of our customers! With your help, we’ve outgrown our current space. Our new downtown Phoenix shop is in a historic warehouse that is currently being restored by owner Michael Levine. Our shop will be 4000 sf with room to expand to 20,000. This place is what Vintage Industrial is all about. This amazing building was designed by the architect (and Frank Lloyd Wright student) who did the Scottsdale Valley Ho.

We are currently hiring which will cut down on our 4-6 week lead time on custom orders (we’re shooting for 2-4 weeks) and allow for more new product development. And we found around 3 dozen original wooden gear molds that vary from big to huge! Hope to have these cataloged and up for sale soon. Thanks again for all of your support and stay tuned for more pictures and maybe a grand opening party!