Wendells Furniture

Who the heck is Wendell? First of all, Wendell is a farm boy turned entrepreneur. Wendell Farrell grew up on a dairy farm in Jericho, Vermont. He managed to graduate from Rice High School after four fairly rebellious years - in fact, he says they graduated him just to get rid of him! After high school, Wendell worked on the family farm for a while, went out to California and hitch-hiked his way back across the country. At age 21, he decided that as the “black sheep” of the family, he should pr...

Who the heck is Wendell? First of all, Wendell is a farm boy turned entrepreneur. Wendell Farrell grew up on a dairy farm in Jericho, Vermont. He managed to graduate from Rice High School after four fairly rebellious years - in fact, he says they graduated him just to get rid of him! After high school, Wendell worked on the family farm for a while, went out to California and hitch-hiked his way back across the country. At age 21, he decided that as the “black sheep” of the family, he should prove he could go to college. Wendell attended Champlain College in Burlington, VT, married Karen (Graves) Farrell, now a retired Army National Guard Lt. Colonel and currently a Nurse Practitioner in Cardiology at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington. As 22-year old kids, Wendell and Karen moved to Massachusetts so Wendell could earn his degree in Education. He proceeded to get his Masters degree in Special Education. Wendell and Karen sold their apartment house in Massachusetts (a 4-unit ‘don’t wanter’ building that Wendell made a no-money-down deal on, which they later doubled their money on) and returned to Vermont. Wendell with Rooney, his pet fawn, circa 1951.On the way to interview for a job, the couple went to Jericho to celebrate Mother’s Day at the farm. That weekend in 1974 marked the end of Wendell’s career in education. Wendell’s dad passed away from a heart attack that night. Someone had to deal with the cows the next morning, so Wendell found himself back in the dairy barn milking cows. Wendell was asked by his mother to take over the farm and buy the cattle and equipment. Wendell took all of the profit from selling the apartment house and became a full-fledged farmer (again). Wendell farmed for about three years, sold the herd, and moved on to a series of different ventures, sometimes having three different businesses going at once. A partial list includes: The Tilt Company (pinball machines), The Bristol Tavern (a bar Wendell purchased to put his pinball machines in), At Your Service (commercial cleaning), Southern Vehicles (buying and trucking used cars from South Carolina to Vermont), JAGS Vintage Clothes, GDS Manufacturing (manufacturing exhaust duct for the semi-conductor industry, like IBM), WF Trading (exporting used clothing to Africa), and a stint in real estate. On July 1, 1999, Wendell opened Wendell’s Furniture in a little “hole-in-the-wall” building in Milton, VT, with twelve pieces of furniture and no money or experience.