Business

The Sinai Guild's
Women in Philanthropy Benefit
For Breast Cancer

Tuesday, October 23, 2001

Featuring Betty Ralik

author of

"First, You Cry"
and "Last Wish"

The Sinai Guild
Serving the community through,
volunteerism and philanthropy.

Please call 248-723-9081 -
for more information.

Affiliated with the
Detroit Medical Center.

VI

Weingarden created a Web site to build cyber business.

profit," said Weingarden. "I thought
I could save everybody money by
staying small and keeping my over-
head low, so I built a Web site."
Dr. David Weingarden, who "pro-
vides moral support instead of finan-
cial" for the oldest of his nine chil-
dren, came up with Elite Furniture,
based on his son's first name.
Unfortunately, the Web address
elitefurniture.com already belonged
to a nationwide futon distributor, so
Weingarden stuck with the store
name but settled on
furniturebeat.com for the Web site.
Within a half a year of opening,
the Web site was getting 14,000
hits, or online shoppers, a month. It
was the difficulty customers were
having committing to such large
purchases without being able to see
the product in person that led
Weingarden to open up his store.
"Originally, the showroom was
only going to house mattresses," said
Weingarden, "but when I started
getting quality warehouse extras
below wholesale from my distribu-
tor, I decided to expand."
It took $15,000 to get Elite
Furniture off the ground. The tim-
ing of the lease forced Weingarden
to open his doors at the beginning
of the Three Weeks leading up to
Tisha Av — the annual Jewish
period of mourning over the
destruction of the temples in
Jerusalem — during which obser-
vant Jews do not make purchases.
Still, sales totaled $10,000 in the
first week, and Weingarden is confi-
dent that once people realize the
money they can save through him,
Elite Furniture will begin to turn a
profit.

Out Of The Sun

In the meantime, his sole employee,

8/24
2001

104

Seth Jacobson of Southfield, is out-
earning his boss.
"I was planning on caddying this
summer," said Jacobson, who recent-
ly returned home from his first year
at Yeshiva University in New York.
"I've know Eli since we were little,
but I actually found out about the
job because my sister worked next
door. For some reason, I've really
grown to like learning obscure things
about furniture. And it's air condi-
tioned here."
Elite Furniture continues to draw
business from the Web while, at the
same time, establishing itself as a
community-oriented, Orthodox-
owned business.
Among Weingarden's plans for
creating the niche is a two-for-one
deal on mattresses for Orthodox
newlyweds who want to be able to
sleep separately when religious law
dictates.
Weingarden says that despite his
longtime interest in business, he will
probably use his dual degree — lib-
eral arts from WSU and computers
from MJI — to go into medicine or
law. His grand opening conflicted
with something that most propri-
etors wouldn't have to worry about:
a psychology exam.
"None of this is a career goal, but
it has been a tremendous life experi-
ence," said Weingarden. "It is a dif-
ferent kind of rush from renting
motorcycles in Israel," a favorite
activity — much to his mother's dis-
may — during his year studying at
Yeshiva Maor Torah.
Four years in the furniture indus-
try have brought Weingarden some
valuable nuggets
of wisdom.
b
"Selling furniture is like playing
matchmaker: 'Person, meet couch.
Couch, meet person. I think you
two will be very happy together."' El