The summer before his junior year of high school, John Costello was looking through the “free” section of Craigslist when he stumbled upon a used set of office cubicles. For Costello, now a junior at the University of St. Thomas, those free cubicles would become first sale for his company, West Metro Solutions, which celebrated $1 million in sales in September.

West Metro Solutions is an environmentally conscious office furniture company that refurbishes and resells used office furniture across the U.S., keeping it out of the landfill, said Costello, who is studying entrepreneurship and finance at St. Thomas.

With the help of a few friends, Costello was able to snag the free cubicles back in 2020, fix them up, and resell them for a profit that he said he split with his friends. He was 16 at the time.

“I was already in the pre-owned market and when COVID hit, all of this furniture was becoming available,” Costello said.

Prior to West Metro Solutions, Costello was reselling thrifted items online and before that he tried to launch a social media marketing firm and invented a hands-free holder for personal speakers.

The 20-year-old said his first foray into the business sector came at the ripe age of 10, when he sold eggs from his family’s chickens at the local farmer’s market.

As for West Metro, Costello is the sole investor and said he spent his last $400 getting the company started.

Humble beginnings

Today Costello describes West Metro Solutions as a well-oiled machine and trusts that he has the skillset and the knowledge to address any problem that may come his way. But that wasn’t always the case.

When launching the business, Costello ran into some unusual roadblocks. For instance, he had to get his older cousin to sign for public storage units and he wasn’t able to rent a vehicle to transport his products due to him being, well, 16 years old.

West Metro headquarters was run out of a dorm room at St. Thomas, Costello said, until he recently moved to an apartment near campus.

His parents, who live in Delano, have always been supportive, he said, including letting him borrow their trailer and store his first few batches of cubicles in their basement.

Even though his company officially launched in 2020, Costello said it wasn’t incorporated until August 2021, when he was old enough to be recognized as the owner.

‘Figured out the formula’

John Costello, owner of West Metro Solutions, talks about finding quality refurbished parts during a cubicle installation at the Mendota Heights City Hall on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. Costello, a 20-year-old junior at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, started refurbishing office furniture and systems four years ago while still in high school. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

When he got started, Costello thought this particular venture would only last through the summer.

“I remember thinking, ‘I want out of this,’” he said of a time when he was working 16-hour days.

But slowly, he began to understand his product more and make connections in the industry with furniture liquidators, delivery personnel and contracted installers, which helped lighten the load.

“I figured out the formula,” he said. “It feels good when you make a customer happy.”

West Metro Solutions currently specializes in cubicles, but Costello also sells other office furniture like desk chairs, conference tables, credenzas and more. As the work-from-home trend continues, Costello said he would like to focus more on selling used desks and chairs.

When shopping for cubicles, customers can choose from a variety of customization options including the fabric color, whether it is a sitting or standing desk, if there is a filing cabinet and the number of drawers.

Costello said it doesn’t matter if the used cubicles come with a certain color pattern or even coffee stains. “None of it matters,” Costello said. “We strip it down to the wood core, put new fabric on it, maybe new trim and it’ll look like a brand new cube.”

Costello said his products are about 75% cheaper than buying new.

As a national company, Costello said a majority of his business comes from Dallas and Phoenix, with Minnesota clients accounting for roughly 20% of business. Recent local projects for West Metro included installing cubicles at Mendota Heights City Hall and a Caribou Coffee warehouse in Maple Grove.

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Gerad Volker, regional facilities manager for Caribou, said historically the coffee company opted to buy new office furniture, until he stumbled on West Metro Solutions on social media.

Tasked with ordering cubicles for Caribou’s Maple Grove warehouse, Volker bought 13 used cubicles from West Metro that were sourced from a recently closed building in the Twin Cities area, he said.

The cubes, which were installed last month, “checked all the boxes for us and at a great price,” Volker said.

“(West Metro) stood out among other suppliers because of John’s commitment to minimizing the environmental impact, which aligns with Caribou’s values,” Volker said. “It can be daunting to see such a young kid in this business, but after working with him, he definitely knows what he’s doing.”

‘Most efficient business practice’

During those early long working days and debating giving it up, Costello said one idea that kept him going was the impact he could have on the environment by keeping this unwanted furniture out of the landfills.

“People look at sustainability as a charitable thing,” John Costello said, “But I think our world needs to be reinvented where sustainability is the most efficient business practice.” (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

More than 12,000 tons of furniture waste, including tables, chairs and sofas were generated in the U.S. in 2018, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Only 40 tons of what was generated was recycled, with more than 80% ending up in the landfills.

“There is a great opportunity to refurbish, repair and reuse office furniture,” said Melissa Wenzel, Built Environment Sustainability Administrator for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “There are a lot of high quality materials that have a lot of life left after the current user is done with it.”

As a general rule, Wenzel said carbon emissions mostly come from the manufacturing of items, so the more people reuse items, the fewer carbon emissions.

The Twin Cities is home to long-standing refurbishing centers, Wenzel said, like the University of Minnesota’s ReUse program and the more than 30-year-old nonprofit Furnish Office and Home in northeast Minneapolis.

Wenzel said there is a growing trend of people wanting to repair and reuse items whether it be for an environmental reason or the lower price point.

“It’s hard to think about the climate crisis from a global or national perspective,” Wenzel said, “But I focus on what I can do. Being able to do one thing differently, like buy a used chair or desk, to know that I can make a difference with my purchasing, that is empowering.”

West Metro Solutions has kept an estimated 500,000 pounds of office furniture out of the landfill so far, Costello said.

“People look at sustainability as a charitable thing,” Costello said. “But I think our world needs to be reinvented where sustainability is the most efficient business practice.”

What’s next?

Costello has no plans of slowing down.

A Schulze Innovation scholar, Costello said he wants to continue adding to his product inventory and collaborate with more suppliers to reduce costs for customers.

At the University of St. Thomas, the Schulze Innovation Scholarship program provides its recipients with four-year tuition, individual mentoring and networking opportunities. Past recipients include the founders of Love Your Melon hats, Seraph 7 video game development studio and ExpressionMed adhesive tapes.

West Metro is doing over $100,000 in net annual profits, Costello said. The company has served some 200 clients across 23 states so far, Costello said, and he hopes to increase both of those numbers.

Ultimately, Costello wants to turn West Metro into a software company, he said, which would allow customers to visually design their own products and receive automatic quotes. “It’s something I’ve thought would change the game,” he said. “And I’d like to be the one to do it.”

6 tips from one young entrepreneur to another

John Costello, owner of West Metro Solutions, at a cubicle installation at the Mendota Heights City Hall. He started refurbishing office furniture and systems while still in high school. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Get out and start. You don’t need a website, decades of market research or a business card, Costello said. You need a stack of sticky notes and a pen to start door-knocking and find someone who is interested in what you’re selling.
Make a sale. “You don’t have a business until you make a sale,” Costello said. If you don’t have the means to provide a good or a service, then start by brokering one, he said.
Create value. Take a look at the items you spend money on and ask yourself why, Costello said. Providing a product or service isn’t enough, he said; business owners need to consider what value their company is bringing to the lives of its customers.
Be wary of the internet. If something seems too good to be true online, it probably is. Costello said in his experience, if someone is trying to teach you how to run a business through social media, “they are trying to rip you off.”
Know your role. As a business owner, Costello said you don’t need to know every step that goes into making your product or carrying out your service, you need to know how to run the business.
Think bigger. Costello said too often young entrepreneurs focus on making a couple grand over the summer. He recommends spending more time thinking about and planning for the future of your business.

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