Ready for Good

Furniture Store

Addison Shockley had an idea to combine his passion for helping kids and lackluster history as a furniture salesman. Ready for Good, which strives to prepare kids aging out of the foster care system, is the result.

Addison Shockley shouldn’t be running a furniture store. He had his chance long ago and wanted nothing to do with the business.

“I grew up in the furniture business,” Shockley says with a laugh. “My parents owned a very successful store and I worked for them through high school. I was, without a doubt, the worst employee they ever had. I hated it.”

Fast forward a decade or so to today. Addison Shockley is standing in the middle of Ready for Good, the furniture store he launched in 2022.

“I think it’s kind of funny that this is what I do now,” Shockley jokes. “I’m just glad I can take the lessons I learned in my parent’s store and use them to make a small difference.”

Shockley’s shop is, by all accounts, a normal furniture store. The building at 708 Connecticut Street is bursting with couches and chairs and end tables and staff float around helping customers. While the business sells furniture, the purpose of the store isn’t to increase profit margins on mid-century pieces.

Ready for Good is a nonprofit social enterprise furniture store providing hope, training, and mentorship for youth who are making the difficult transition to adulthood while growing up in the foster care or juvenile justice system, as well as unhoused youth. All proceeds go to providing services for transition-age youth in need of work experience, job readiness training, life skills workshops, and mentorship.

“Selling furniture is the cover,” Shockley explains. “We’re trying to enhance the lives of those that work here.”

Shockley’s previous professional life was working with individuals in foster care and those in the juvenile justice system. After years working through the system, he kept noticing a common hurdle for people aging out of the system: getting a job, with little or no experience, was incredibly difficult. Kids in foster care or the juvenile justice system, more often than not, have unstable schedules and a lack of reliable transportation to get and maintain most entry-level jobs. One day, while visiting his parents’ store, he had an idea.

“I saw a guy putting together furniture and it just occurred to me that I could do something to help these kids,” Shockley says. “It became clear I could use what I know about the furniture store industry and working with these kids to really make a difference. I starting researching grants immediately and checking the boxes needed to make this store happen. I called in favors from family and friends, found the space, and we opened a year ago.”

The basis of the business is to hire, train, and mentor eight youths per quarter. The youth in the program receive job training, basic education in business, customer service lessons, and learn about every aspect of the business while earning a paycheck. One day they might work the floor and help customers and the next they are putting together pieces for the sales floor.

Shockley takes an increased interest in working with the kids and increasing their comfort with the idea of working in a service industry.

“There’s so much young people with challenging backgrounds can learn from working in a shop like this,” he says. “Sometimes just building the confidence to approach someone in the store is a big win for the week, and we celebrate all wins.”

The majority of the furniture received in the shop requires minor assembly. Staff use the open area at the back of the building to process deliveries and construct pieces for the showroom floor. Opening a box, seeing a mess of pieces and turning that into a sellable piece of furniture, often with no instructions included, is a concrete, satisfying accomplishment, Shockley says. Building on those small victories compounds over time and, as confidence builds, so do responsibilities.

The business side of the store is strong, Shockley says. Though the store is a nonprofit, the goal is never to lose money. In its first year, Ready for Good has done well. Shockley secured a strong grant to get the business off the ground and the advice from his parents (and brother, who also runs a furniture store) has proven to be valuable. While the business is a nonprofit, the furniture is not secondhand nor is it second-rate. The store’s website will often list items for sell and cross-list them with comparable pieces from other dealers.

“We rely on grants, of course,” Shockley says. “But we also sell really nice pieces here. I’m proud of the furniture on the floor. In addition to the pieces for sale, we have big plans to make this a family center where parents can bring their young kids in to play while they shop for a piece of furniture. We’re just getting started here.”

Ready for Good is working to fill a hole in the Lawrence furniture market while serving a purpose greater than loading tables into the back of customer’s trucks. Shockley is dedicated to using the business to give kids aging out a much-needed boost.

“Everything we do in the program is focused on building these youth into more employable young adults,” he says. “These kids are facing some scary times ahead. I hope they leave the program with a greater sense of self and increased confidence. Maybe the most important thing they can leave this experience with is a reference to list on their next job application. That can be huge and we’re doing all we can to add skills that can be listed on a resume.” and, of course…sharing snacks.

Two kingdoms, divided. Will the royals from each kingdom find a way to bring balance to both?