Business flourishes after pandemic-triggered career change

By Doug Meehan

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    GLOUCESTER, Massachusetts (WCVB) — Sitting on the edge of Gloucester Harbor inside a 5,000 square foot warehouse that once served as a freezer for seafood is the sounds of Massachusetts manufacturing in full swing.

From sawing to sanding to spraying, things are on the move at Gloucester Design.

“We make just about everything from millwork,” Brian Thompson, a master millworker and woodworker for over 20 years, said.

When Brian lost his job due to the pandemic, he and his wife Nicole decided to start their own mill working company.

“We started this actually right when COVID happened,” Brian Thompson said.

The timing, as it turned out, was perfect for the makers of custom cabinetry, built-ins, high-end doors and furniture.

“People have been at home so much, we’ve been getting calls nonstop,” Brian Thompson said. “And then the bigger jobs are starting to come around too.”

The pandemic also shifted career and family focus for Nicole, a former nurse and current full-time mom.

“When COVID hit and I had to homeschool 6 kids, it was easier to do something with a family business than it was to keep being a nurse,” Nicole Thompson said.

She earned a degree in interior design and now develops new product concepts as well as spreading the news of her family business through her savvy social media skills.

“People see it on social media, they see how nice everything is and that’s when we get the phone calls,” Nicole Thompson said.

It’s been a labor of love for this working family business.

What they are making, others seem to be loving as well.

“We build everything that goes into the highest end mansions you can see,” Brian Thompson said. “When you walk through the front door and you see that side table, when you walk into their kitchen we do that. And when you walk in the bathroom, the cellarium, the windows, we do that.”

Brian, Nicole and the entire team at Gloucester Design say they’ve never been busier.

Many of the items they were working on during our visit were all getting ready for a $200,000 contract for a brand new mansion being built in Hamilton, Massachusetts.

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