Karl Waigand had as a hand an idea and $4,000.
He went all in. He drew an ace.
Atomic Then & Now is a mid-century-themed furniture store in River Oaks that has caught on with the consumer like a video gone viral on the socials.
Since opening a year and a half ago, Atomic Then & Now has done $1.5 million in business, according to the business’s founding father.
“I never in a million years ever expected to do as well,” says Waigand. “And I thought there would be some bumps in the road and some slow months, but I honestly have to say, we kicked it off with a bang, and it’s been hugely successful.”
Waigand, who started the business with a partner who is no longer in the business, had a vision to open a store and rent spaces to people to resell stuff, a sort-of antique store. It wasn’t exactly the “dream” he had in mind, but that was the business model he was working off of.
There is some risk in that concept, he says, because “then everyone, when you lease them a space, they want to do it their own way and sell their own trash.
“But after that first month, I said, ‘I don’t need anybody.’”
It didn’t just simply happen that way. Waigand is a dedicated entrepreneur who is in love with his work and the subject matter. The business started as a dream, an opportunity that presented itself, and the $4,000 he had on him.
“Although I spend a lot of time on it, it’s something that I truly enjoy doing, and customer service is a big thing for me. There’s so much that goes into making the store what it is, that it’s like no other.”
The furniture he sells is both older — the “then,” that is, somewhere near the beginning of the atomic age of the 1940s — and what is “now,” the current age, in fashion. Waigand buys mostly from estate sales, though some of the product is acquired from auction companies and some from Europe.
“The thing about our old furniture is that it has to meet a really high expectation and standard in order to be sold in my store. Some of the pieces that I sell have lived through generations.”
Waigand, 52, is a Chicago native who has lived here for the better part of 29 years. “I feel like I’m a native Texan.” He made a living as a regional manager for Maggiano’s Little Italy, Brinker’s Italian restaurant concept, as well an artistic director hair stylist.
“I’ve always kind of been in hospitality and the service industry from the artistic side to the hospitality side. And from way back when, interior design and home decor and styling, like remodeling and making a dump look like a mansion, I could make any space look and feel amazing.”
The rooms at the store, he says, are staged as they would be in, say, your grandmother’s house.
“The vibe is good, very inviting,” Waigand says. “It makes you feel that whoever’s doing this, loves what they’re doing.”
In fact, Waigand says he’s received messages on Instagram from people asking if they can just come to hang out in the store, just spend an afternoon in there.
“Most people who walk into my store, say, ‘Wow. Wow.’ It’s the wow factor. People on our Instagram following say, ‘Oh, my God, it takes me back in time. This place is amazing.’ So, it’s not only about selling furniture, it’s about an experience that most clients have lived in that era. And there’s something or many things or everything that brings them back to either their childhood or their past.
“It’s got a feel that makes you comfortable. Things that I’ve had ladies get on their knees and cry because there was something that was so sentimental that their grandmother had in her house and it brought back memories.”
