Phyllis Cannava will be the first to tell you that she’s not one to sit around – on office chairs or any other seating, for that matter.
That’s why the 78-year-old owner of Office Direct Cannava Design Ltd. will remain a sales representative of the company she founded in 1989 when she steps down in a couple of years. She plans to hand the reins to senior designer Meghan Robinson, who joined the company in 2005.
“That way, I will be able to play more tennis, but I’ll still be here, still doing what I love,” Cannava said. The thought of completely leaving the company she has built for more than three decades isn’t on her radar just yet.
Based in Warwick, with just four employees – “we are small but deadly,” Cannava says – Office Direct is a commercial furniture dealership that offers clients better prices over competitors, as it buys directly from manufacturers. It also purchases materials such as discontinued flooring at deep discounts for clients, along with refurbished, previously owned items, such as workstations.
Cannava finds it especially rewarding to save money for her clients that run nonprofit organizations, where every budget dollar counts.
She started the company after a divorce, and after years of working in the then-male-dominated furniture sales industry when she saw what her employers in the furniture business did wrong. Not appreciating their employees was one mistake. When her final employer went into its fourth bankruptcy and her commission check was not forthcoming, it was a sign that something drastic had to be done. A new business was born.
‘I see “no” as the beginning of “yes.” ’
PHYLLIS CANNAVA, Office Direct Cannava Design Ltd. owner
“I always believe that if you seek, you find,” she said.
In the early days, Office Direct – which she started out of her house after she remortgaged it to finance the business — included client meetings in her living room and sample books spread out in spare bedrooms. From there, the company moved to space in the Pontiac Mills in Cranston, then to its current home on Jefferson Boulevard in Warwick.
Now Office Direct has clients across Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. The company works with large institutions such as Johnson & Wales University and Rhode Island Hospital and smaller organizations in the educational and medical sectors, as well as senior living and hospitality.
Most interior designers are not dealers, she noted, but Office Direct is both focused on design (the colors and tone of a client’s business card make a good starting point for how a space can look, she says) and purchases directly from manufacturers.
“We go directly to purchase artwork, seating, flooring, whatever [the clients] need, and deliver and install,” Cannava said. “We’re a one-stop shop, which is nice for the client. We can bring in contractors if they need to take down walls, or we can bring in architects. We know how to value engineer.”
Maintaining professional relationships and seeing opportunities to start new ones has helped the company offer the full gamut to its clients, whether it is offering services or products directly or outsourcing.
These relationships also came in handy during the pandemic, according to Cannava. Office Direct was already in the process of providing interiors for several large buildings, she said. But far-off arrival dates with items such as refrigerators for office kitchens produced a lot of uncertainty in projects. It helped to have strong bonds with many suppliers.
“I see ‘no’ as the beginning of ‘yes.’ I would look at my options, and if one doesn’t work, I’d look at another, or another,” she said. “I’ve been in business so long that the manufacturing reps are there for us and we’ve built relationships along the way.”
Cannava also fosters connections among reps, clients, contractors and others, introducing them to one another.
“I believe in giving back and introducing people to people,” she said. “For example, we have a client who owns a dental office who has used us and trusts us. They may relocate, so I just introduced him to a larger construction company that does great work. This way, when he finds a space, he doesn’t have to get different bids. I said, ‘Hey, did you meet so-and-so, can I have him call you?’ ”
Cannava credited her participation in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program with giving her the educational and support tools she needed to start the Office Direct Branded Interiors offering. It began with a client opening 70 identical offices and sending just blueprints looking for design help.
“It did take a little fieldwork” to get logistics set up, Cannava said. But in the end, the client had identical offices across the country, with branded color schemes so that their customers knew where they were when they entered those locations.
The Goldman Sachs course, she said, showed her it was possible to complete the task.
“We had to call around to find warehouses that would accept the deliveries, but they appreciated the business,” she said. “We were forerunners. You seek, you find.”
