WEST OCEAN CITY – Jack Shapiro got into the furniture business almost by accident. The Compass Resort Real Estate broker made a policy of not letting the best pieces go when he cleaned out a recently vacated house or traded out pieces for a home staging.
“Eventually my mother’s garage was full so I opened a store,” he said. Jumping Jack Flash Used Furniture on 146th Street in Ocean City provided both income and opportunity, allowing Shapiro to repurpose furniture that was in perfectly good shape for sale and for donation to local charities. Fire departments, churches and Diakonia have all been recipients of the excess furniture Shapiro was able to procure through his various dealings.
Over the years he developed an eye for the better or more functional pieces and began collecting antique and close out furniture and accessories. This month, realizing that he needed a less warehouse like space for the finer acquisitions he opened Cadillac Jack’s in the Teal Marsh Shopping Center.
The store is filled with a mix of the better antiques, appliances and new and closeout furniture Shapiro picks up at auction or as part of his regular real estate dealings.
“I needed a place for the more fragile items,” he said. “Although I have some very nice stuff at the other store, you’re not going to find a $10 coffee table here.”
Where Jumping Jack Flash Used Furniture is an excellent choice for furnishing your house or rental, Cadillac Jack’s is perfect for appointing it. In addition to the antique bedsteads, chairs and dining room sets, Shapiro has collected furniture that’s appropriate to the better beach house motif — timeless, airy and sophisticated but functional.
In addition to supplying these items, though, Shapiro is also interested in making sure what he suggests or what his customers choose actually looks in the way they believe it will. One of the greatest difficulties in buying furniture, fixtures or accessories is sometimes a person’s vision doesn’t match their actual circumstances. Shapiro prides himself on accepting returns. If you get a purchase home and it doesn’t look the way you thought it would, just bring it back. He said he knows what it’s like to be dissatisfied with something and feel trapped by it. It’s an experience he wants his customers to be able to avoid.
One of the other aspects of his service is that, unlike many furniture companies that just take your old pieces away, Shapiro will actually buy them. In fact, he provides both redecorating and staging services and is happy to come to your home and make a plan for what he can sell you and what he can buy from you.
Whether it is just one item from his shop that can transform an entire room or a mixture of placement and acquisitions, Shapiro has the skill and the eye to make a transformation both painless and inexpensive.
In addition to outright buying pieces, Cadillac Jack’s accepts consignments. Shapiro is willing to take pieces that match his customer’s predilections and tastes either one item at a time or by the house full.