The Wellspring Upholstery is a full service upholstery shop that provides high quality workmanship for commercial, institutional and residential customers at competitive prices. The workshop is teaching a new generation to carry on this highly skilled trade in a sector where many are retiring out given the popular shift to disposable furniture.  Reupholstery preserves and restores quality furniture to new condition rather than disposing and replacing, keeping thousands of pounds of waste out of landfills annually.  

Wellspring Upholstery opened in 2013 as the first cooperative in the Wellspring network.  Alliance Upholstery and master upholsterer, Evan Cohen, generously hosted WUC in their workshop at the Monkey Wrench building at 143 Main Street in Springfield. Evan and Alliance seamstress, Tina Pepper, provided training and customer contacts while WUC workers gained skill and experience.  When Evan retired, Tina became the lead upholster for WUC and a member of the cooperative.  

By 2019, Wellspring Upholstery was operating profitably with three cooperative members and a strong customer base. The shop had become the primary upholsterer for hospital, medical, and visitor seating at the Baystate and Trinity health systems; the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and for many colleges and universities in the University of Massachusetts system; and private colleges throughout the region. WUC had gained a strong reputation for reliability, quality work, and customer service.

The COVID pandemic brought hard times for the upholstery shop, which was forced to shut down for many months during 2020, and several long-time employees and co-op members moved on by necessity. WUC’s customer base of colleges and hospitals stopped all upholstery work for more than a year and only slowly began returning during 2021 and 2022. The upholstery shop moved to its present location in Ludlow to reduce rent and utility costs and to be prepared to expand as customers reopened.  A core of three worker owners are gradually renewing work and rebuilding the company.