Aces of Trades – Rockn S Rustic Furniture

PATASKALA – Western and rustic have merged at Rockn S Rustic Furniture in Pataskala. The store is full of unusual items, at least for this area, because owners Cheryle Sager and her husband, Jerry, have a passion for that type of thing.

“I like western. I like rustic,” explained Cheryle. “I like it to have a little bit of character and uniqueness, and all this furniture has it.”

A sampling of the items includes upholstered furniture, bedroom suites and accessories, bookcases, tables, half barrel bars and custom-made leather goods, including cowhides from Texas.

“They’re not antiques,” Cheryle clarified. “It’s rustic furniture. It’s reclaimed wood, scraped/painted. It’s what you’re going to see in a farmhouse or ranch or lodge. It’s stuff you’re not going to find in stores around here. It’s just unique.”

As to why such a unique store in Pataskala, Cheryle explained, “There’s no rustic stuff around the area. I have quarter horses and I always wait until the Quarter Horse Congress comes into Columbus every year so I can look for things to put in my house.”

Plus, she added, “I grew up in Johnstown so I’m familiar with the area. I figured Pataskala is a rural area, and there are a lot of homes that would like to have this type of furniture.”

She and Jerry have, in fact, been building their own new home in Pataskala. And initially they looked locally for new furniture, but they couldn’t find what they really wanted.

“We actually went to Dallas,” Jerry recalled, “to buy furniture for our new home knowing that’s the kind of stuff we wanted. So we thought, ‘Why don’t we just start our own store?’”

Ever since, Jerry, 58, has been the (jokingly) self-described “janitor, the guy who does all the clean-up.” Really, he often works side-by-side with his wife at the store. Having been a bit of an entrepreneur since childhood, he also owns a Gahanna-based granite countertop business.

“My wife is the one who was raised with the horses,” he said. “And she’s got the decorating knack, so I just kind of help her out. It’s a nice change of pace for me. And I like talking to people anyway.”

Like his wife, Jerry graduated from high school in Johnstown though he also spent much of his childhood in New Albany.

“Growing up,” he quipped, “I never even knew where Pataskala was.”

As for the store’s unusual name, Cheryle said it’s because, “My husband does granite, so I was trying to come up with something ‘rock.’ And I also have horses, so I was trying to come up with a farm name. And the ‘S’ is for Sager.”

“And rustic furniture,” she added, “is what it is.”

“It’s a unique furniture experience,” Jerry concluded. “There’s nothing like it around here.”

For more

Rockn S Rustic Furniture is located at 11001 Broad Street, Suite B, in Pataskala. For more information, call 740-919-9328 or log on www.rocknsrusticfurniture.com.

Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at advocate@newarkadvocate.com or 740-328-8821.