Be proud of your pension: Meet Steve, owner of Restored Retro

10 years ago, Steve was homeless and suffering from drug addiction. Having learnt furniture restoration in rehab, he was able to turn his negative habits into positive ones and dedicated his time to perfecting his new craft.  

Today, he’s the proud of a furniture restoration shop, Restored Retro, in Poole, Dorset – and that’s in part thanks to your pension investments. 

Through our partnership with Legal & General, we’ve invested some of your pension savings into property projects across the UK, including an initiative to help revitalise Poole’s high street. Steve is one of 10 entrepreneurs that were given the opportunity to set up a shop in the town centre.  

We sat down with Steve, to hear more about his story and how getting into furniture restoration has changed his life.

How has having the shop changed your life over the last four years? 

It’s brought so many opportunities. I started in the garden with a sander and £100. Now we’ve sold over 1,700 restored pieces in the last four years. We took on a second shop after two years, and now it’s enabled me to bring in new furniture.  

Do you feel like finding furniture restoration helped turn your life around? 

Furniture restoration gave me purpose and direction. After coming out of addiction for 22 years, I was left with a big void. Before it was raising money for drugs, buying drugs, using drugs. Then I put the theory in place of looking for the furniture, restoring the furniture, and then selling the furniture, which they called ’transferable skills’. I took that negative behaviour and turned it into something positive. 

Was having your own shop something that crossed your mind back then? 

A shop always did cross my mind. Before we got the shop, I was in a vintage emporium, renting space and displaying our pieces. Then I was told about the Kingland project just over four years ago. I was very nervous, but it was a big step for me. 

How does it feel knowing everyday people have contributed to your community? 

It's amazing that the pension scheme Nest has invested money into the street because what it does show is that it can work and through people investing their money can kind of create lives for people and support people. Nest pension customers should be so proud of what they've helped us do.

For entrepreneurs like Steve, the opportunity to have a large shop was life changing. But for you, our Nest members, when businesses like Steve’s thrive, they create jobs, pay rent, and contribute to the local economy – all of which help boost your pension pot.

Published 23 October 2024