Courtesy Homethreads
We sit down with Westchester resident and Homethreads founder Brad Bruckner to talk success despite the pandemic’s economic downturn.
The coronavirus pandemic was a difficult period of time for any business owner. However, Westchester resident Brad Bruckner and his business partner Neil Marcus seized the opportunity to show consumers that staying home can be a lot more enjoyable with Homethreads.
Homethreads is an e-commerce company that delivers the top-quality, factory-direct bedding, bath accessories, window treatments, area rugs, and other home furnishings designed for comfort, durability, and style. Launched in 2017, Homethreads is already on track to earn $50 million in sales this year, with the lofty goal of $1 billion by 2026.
Before the launch of Homethreads, self-described “serial entrepreneur” Brad Bruckner had been the leader of a successful marketing company in White Plains for more than two decades. As the captain of such a sturdy ship, why take the risk of possibly sinking with Homethreads?

“I have launched many products and achieved success with most of them,” explains Bruckner. “When Neil Marcus, my friend of 40 years, approached me with the idea of leveraging his home furnishings relationships and selling direct to the consumer, it seemed like a no-brainer.” It seems making that leap from marketing professional to online home design leader was no sweat for the veteran entrepreneur. “The transition has been easy. Instead of performing marketing and advertising services for others, we simply started doing the same thing for ourselves.”
While maintaining a focus on customer relationships, Bruckner and Marcus have also invented a way to achieve the best of both worlds by using new-school technology to power their old-school business strategies. “We developed state-of-the-art technology that allows us to communicate with transparency. We answer every email and phone and are always developing new ways to improve the experience,” says Bruckner.
The coronavirus pandemic forced Americans to do two things: stay in the house and avoid in-person retailers. Easy accessibility led to great success for Homethreads, though, as Bruckner points out, the company’s highs were not immune to the subsequent lows brought on by the pandemic.
“Homethreads was experiencing explosive growth well before COVID-19,” says Bruckner. “The pandemic did increase sales while the demand for home office and outdoor furniture surged, but it has caused just as many problems due to supply chain issues and delivery delays that are beyond our control and difficult to explain to our customers.” To try and manage the large-scale inventory Homethreads currently offers, spread out among a broad range of product categories, Bruckner and Marcus have developed software that tracks inventory in real time and is infinitely scalable to any number of products.
Could the past year of consumers increasingly making large purchases online mark the beginning of the end for traditional retail locations? Bruckner says yes. “The face of retail is forever changed. Successful brick-and-mortar stores like Apple are balancing a healthy mix of web sales with retail sales. Customers have become savvier. Decisions about purchases are helped with online research and peer reviews.” Put simply, Bruckner believes it’s just plain easier to shop online than to browse in-person, and he and his team at Homethreads have been working tirelessly to improve the digital shopping experience for consumers.
“We’re using 3D visualization software so customers can see things in their homes before they buy it,” he says. “We’re also using artificial intelligence to help our customers find complementary products.”
What started as an e-commerce company strictly selling direct-to-consumer fabrics has now grown into a business model that supports a highly curated assortment of almost 30 consumer known brands. Today, Bruckner manages Homethreads’ marketing office in White Plains, while co-owner Neil Marcus oversees the business’ customer service office in sunny Boca Raton.
Ultimately, no one can sum up the future of Homethreads better than Bruckner himself: “There is no limit to what can be added and what Homethreads can become.”