Making GREAT Places of Spaces

by Brenda Niemand

Shirley Hetfield (pictured at left) knew a good thing when she saw it, and she stayed with it. Like so many successful entrepreneurs, her story is one of single-minded dedication to an intuition or idea. When she found herself divorced at age 35 and in need of a career, Hetfield “wandered” into retail. While working for a furniture store on Pearl Street Mall, she became familiar with Techline, a modular furniture system. Impressed by the line’s concept and philosophy, as well as design and construction, Hetfield was determined to become a Techline dealer, in spite of having neither a shop nor capital.
When her employer went out of business, she located a windowless warehouse on east Pearl Street whose owner was thrilled to find a tenant. For the next 16 years it was home to what’s now called Techline Boulder. This fall, Hetfield moved to a new ground-level space at 1500 Pearl St., site of the newly opened municipal parking structure. Tall windows wrapping around the corner location flood the store with light, and create a strong street presence. Enormously high ceilings allow for a mezzanine over part of the first floor, and the building’s exposed beams and walls are a dramatic backdrop for the furniture’s clean, contemporary design.
Techline is a product of Marshall Erdman & Associates, a firm that began designing, manufacturing and building health-care facilities more than 40 years ago. Hetfield’s Techline Boulder is an independent business, one of 62 retail Techline Studios, selling the modular furniture system to both residential and commercial clients. Furniture, cabinetry, office and closet systems in this medium-priced line are made of high-pressure laminates in black, white and gray, granite and sandstone patterns, which can be combined with select-grade maple or cherry veneers for desk or tabletops, drawer fronts and cabinet doors.
Designed for flexibility and adaptability, modules continuously remain in the line so a customer can return a few years later and add to or reconfigure his or her original purchase. “I have customers I’ve had for sixteen years,” Hetfield says, “because they bought Techline originally, and keep buying more as they move, grow and adapt.” Techline carries a five-year warranty, and it’s possible to replace damaged parts, she adds.
The new store’s displays are grouped by function, such as personal or business office, team workspace (a modular system of conference tables that can be combined to accommodate different group sizes), wall units, bedroom or kitchen units, and closet systems. Information kiosks explain how modules work, and brochures provide dimensions and illustrate possible combinations. Wall units, for instance, come in different widths and depths depending or whether they’ll hold books (in which case you’ll want thicker shelves), drawers for clothes, or an entertainment center.
Techline provides free space planning to help customers sort through the dizzying array of options. Whether you’re puzzling over how to hide a guest bed in your home office (check out the pull-down wall bed) or how to fit two workspaces into a tiny office, design staff can prepare CAD drawings to illustrate how the furniture will occupy your space. Popular items and colors are in stock for quick delivery from the off-site warehouse; special orders, which come from the Techline factory in Madison, Wis., take four weeks. All purchases can be delivered, assembled and installed for an extra charge.

ENDLESS EVOLUTION
The new store represents an evolution of Hetfield’s original concept. When she opened her business, Innerspace, it was a full-line furniture and home accessories store (Techline was only one of her lines then). Gradually she concentrated on furnishing the home office, then focused more on the commercial client, at which point she became a Techline Studio, carrying the full line. The only other brand the store now carries, besides a few unique gift items, is Amisco, a steel furniture manufacturer in Quebec that’s especially known for its chairs and a popular line of barstools. Today the single largest part of her business, Hetfield says, is the computer work station for both residential and commercial settings.
Business is good. The store’s high visibility in the heart of east Pearl Street’s redevelopment has attracted new clients from the neighborhood, including other new parking structure tenants. Commercial customers satisfied with their Techline offices frequently return to purchase a closet system for their home, or outfit a child’s bedroom. Hetfield wants to expand her business hours (now 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday through Saturday), but is limited by the problem plaguing most Boulder retailers: finding and keeping good staff.
Meanwhile, the store’s former building at Pearl and 16th streets, which Hetfield bought during her tenancy, has been razed to make room for a new building—but not before she realized a handsome profit on the property’s sale. The furniture system she identified as a winner years ago has indeed been good to her: “It’s provided for my retirement,” she says with a laugh. However, she also concedes she must be doing something right, since she’s still in business. And still a believer in Techline: “It’s a great product,” she states simply.