A Traverse City business credits its unique line of hand crafted furniture and local art to a steady flow of customers.

     Sheffield's Gallery has been in business since 1998 making hand crafted furniture and doing custom work.

     7&4's Melissa Smith is featuring the store in this week's Made with Michigan Hands report.

     Owner Sheffield's Hardwood Furniture John Fisher says, "Our specialty since 1998 has been handmade hardwood furniture."

     He says, says it's a quality that the Traverse City business prides itself on.

     Fisher says, "Our things are solid hardwood, solid cherry.  We do a fair amount of tiger maple, a little bit of walnut and clear maple.  For the most part it's natural cherry."

     The majority of furniture items in the gallery are made from lumber in the Collingwood forest in Pennsylvania, but all of their custom work involves Michigan lumber.

     He says, "When we do custom work about 30% of our business, we do buy all of our lumber here in Michigan, specifically the birds-eye maple pieces.  It was news to me years back that the largest source of bird's eye comes from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan."

       Besides their special furniture pieces, Sheffield's also features sculptures and paintings from local artists.

       It's this feature along with providing local jobs that Fisher says is impacting the northern Michigan's economy.

     "I think we've been one of the lucky ones.  We're unique in that it's a little bit higher end.  The location has helped us tremendously for our visibility but yeah it's been steady.  I won't say we're recession proof by any means, but we've been lucky to be steady for these past two years."

     And just like the sign says the handmade furniture is something Fisher says gives the business an upper hand.

     He says, "There are other places in the area that certainly market beautiful handmade furniture.  This I think is the biggest collection in the area...We do offer seven different lines here.  It's been real interesting to see how it's evolved and it's been a nice ride...This is a great community, they've supported us since the early days of opening the business."

     Sheffield's is located on West Front Street near Division in Traverse City.

     Click here for more information about Sheffield's Gallery.