Little Chute business forged from woodworking hobby

Cheryl Hentz

Contributor

June 1, 2023

LITTLE CHUTE – We often hear successful businesses being born out of a hobby – something someone has a real passion for.

Such has been the case with WiniVago Woods – a Little Chute business (127 E. Main St.) that just opened its brick-and-mortar location last month. 

WiniVago Woods – named after owners Chris Winius and TeeJay Vago – started in early August 2021, after Winius suggested they purchase a CNC machine to complement and expand his woodworking hobby. 

At the time, Winius was working as a concrete foreman and Vago as a medical assistant.

Vago didn’t know much about woodworking, so he said he was a little reluctant, but in the end, agreed with the purchase.

“COVID-19 was still somewhat of an issue,” Winius said. “With the unknown of the future, we felt we’d rather be doing our own thing. That way, if it took off, we could work for ourselves and work around our children’s schedules.” 

The duo said they started experimenting with the CNC by doing some signs and other smaller woodworking projects – their excitement growing with each new design.

It was then, the pair said, they began to see the possibilities for even greater designs.  

Going at it full-time
Vago said it didn’t take long before he left his full-time position (October 2021) to focus entirely on growing WiniVago, handling its marketing, social media and online presence.  

“We were starting to get busy around the holidays of 2021,” he said. “But we also had enough bigger projects, like bathroom remodels and doing kitchen tables and countertops, that by January of 2022, Chris decided to step down from his construction job.”

During the next several months, the pair attended as many craft shows as they could – which Vago said proved quite successful, not only in selling their products but in helping them gain a great deal of knowledge from other artisans. 

//17bec5072710cda5b8dd81b69f4c6e58.cdn.bubble.io/f1685648253839x398666819199845250/richtext_content.webpMuch of WiniVago Woods’ business focuses on unique, one-of-a-kind projects. Submitted Photo

As the business grew, Vago said the depth and kind of projects they did also grew. 

“First, it moved into epoxy work when we started getting requests for that,” he said. “So, we learned how to do that. With Chris’ background in concrete, we’ve also done concrete countertops, concrete bar tops, concrete tabletops, concrete pieces of furniture, like coffee tables and end tables, you name it. It has all changed from the way it started out. As our knowledge grows, so does the business, and vice versa.” 

Physical presence a necessity
They were content running the business from their home, but one of the most significant breaks they got, Winius said, was in July 2022, when Aaron Phillipson, owner of All Tied Up Appleton, contacted them saying he’d seen some of their work and wanted to offer them some shelf space in his store. 

“If it wasn’t for him giving us some retail space, we wouldn’t have had the confidence to even look for a retail place of our own,” he said. “But we were selling out on that one shelf he gave us almost weekly. He didn’t charge us anything for that space – he did that out of the kindness of his heart. That meant a lot to us and was a huge help.” 

That led to another leap of faith when it came time to open a storefront of their own in Little Chute, which the duo said “made the most sense.”

That’s where they live and where their kids attend school.

In fact, the newly-opened retail store is a block away from their kids’ school and two blocks from where they live. 

“We feel Little Chute has a lot of potential in its future,” Winius said. “We also see ourselves as being able to scale the business and grow with the community and be even bigger than we are right now.”

Vago said this type of business was also something Little Chute didn’t have.

“They have unique stores and coffee shops, but this was something that was even more unique and not already here,” he said. “Appleton and Green Bay both have something similar, but this way we could support the city we live in and work here, too.”

Winius said they signed the lease for the space on Main Street last December and spent the next five months doing the interior design work and building furniture for the store. 

“It was hard in the early stages to envision what this would look like, but it eventually started to take shape,” he said.

Small to very complex projects
Vago said the simplest thing they do is personalized Christmas ornaments and the more complex jobs can be as involved as an entire bathroom remodel.

“As long as we don’t have to move the plumbing, we can renovate a whole bathroom,” he said. “We’re always willing to try something, but we may need a little more time to complete a project to get it to our standards before we let it out the door.”

Winius said he likes doing woodworking as that is his first passion, but he enjoys trying different things.

“I always like trying to take on new furniture pieces,” he said. “For me, that was always one of the passions of it, to take on higher-end furniture pieces, mostly out of wood.”

Winius said concrete “has its place, too.”

“It can be beautiful, but industrial at the same time,” he said. “It can tie in well with other materials, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.”

The WiniVago team said every piece of wood has its own unique qualities and beautiful graining.” 

//17bec5072710cda5b8dd81b69f4c6e58.cdn.bubble.io/f1685648389980x500356109083365500/richtext_content.webpChris Winius said WiniVago Woods thrives on product customization. Submitted Photo

“For me, I never was into woodworking before we started this, so I’ve been enjoying learning the woodworking from Chris and doing some of my own research and self-education,” Vago said. “I’ve grown to like it a little more.”

Winius said one of the things that set WiniVago Woods apart from other similar businesses is its customization services. 

“If someone has something that’s memorable, and they want it turned into something else, we love those kinds of projects…,” he said. “We love creating something for someone that will hold memories for them forever. We always tell people we specialize in customization – that’s what our business thrives on.”

The future
Vago said their plan for the immediate future is to perfect what they’re currently doing for customers and grow from there.

He said a company that focuses primarily on remodeling projects could be a sister company to WiniVago Woods, giving one a little separation from the other.

Vago said they could even see themselves teaching woodworking classes for kids.

But first – the plan is to hire a limited part-time person to run the retail store, so they can focus on the creative end of things. 
“It (also) might be nice to give shelf space to others who don’t have a storefront yet,” Vago said. “We could be their storefront for the time being.” 

Paying forward, Vago said, the kindness they were once shown by Phillipson.

“The belief he had in us and our products is what we want to do for others in our shop,” he said. “It matters sometimes to have someone do something so kind.”