In 2006 Matt and Brian Verhalen started The Seat Shop out of Matt’s garage & spare bedroom in Frisco, TX (a suburb of Dallas). With $1,000 earned from the sale of personal items on eBay, the brothers took their earnings and began to buy, recondition, and sell 3rd row seats on eBay.  After out-growing Matt’s garage and two of the largest storage units they could find, they moved into their first office/warehouse space in 2007. The space was 1,400 sq. ft. and it was “huge” as described by the Verhalen brothers.

After settling into the new space, The Seat Shop began offering their Factory Match Leather Seat Cover product line on eBay along with the 3rd Row Seats. With the economy starting to slow, they found that more and more customers were deciding to “fix up” their existing Trucks and SUV’s instead of buying new ones. The sales of Leather Seat Covers and 3rd Row Seats began to increase rapidly.

By the end of 2008 the brothers decided they were ready to expand their online presence and were poised for the increase in business. Through the help of Matthew Shipley and his team at Covalent Media Lab, www.theseatshop.com was born. Matt and Brian spent countless late nights and weekends filling the site with products, how-to videos, frequently asked questions, and more. Soon after the launch, customers began to purchase products from the site and their business began to grow faster than ever.

By the Summer of 2009, the once “huge” office space began to feel more like a closet. It was time for a bigger office. So the moving trucks arrived, and they relocated to their current 6,000 sq. ft. facility. Shortly after the move, Matt and Brian hired two new employees. First they hired Matt’s wife Jill to be the company’s Controller. Jill got a crash course in selling their products and caught on very quickly. She developed new processes that saved the company countless amounts of time and money. Also joining the team as Operations Manager was Hunter Swindell. Hunter was thrown into the fire immediately and soon had the back of the house turned around and running smoothly. By the end of 2009 they had a great core team in place.

2010 was also a tremendous growth year for The Seat Shop. They expanded thier web presence again by offering their Factory Match Leather Seat Covers on Amazon.com. They also invested in HD Video cameras and audio equipment to enhance their How-To Videos which have been a great tool for their customers. In November the team set their sights on Las Vegas and exhibited for the first time at the SEMA Show. The show was a great success and has provided some great exposure for our ever growing company.

This year they hired a 5th member to their management team, Justin Horsley. Justin came in as the Warehouse Manager to help organize and manage the order fulfillment and 3rd Row Seat restoration process. He has done an outstanding job so far and has allowed The Seat Shop to realize record setting growth to date in 2011. Once again with Covalent Media Lab in their corner, The Seat Shop team is very excited about the launch of the new website, and hope your experience is a great one!