About Us
About New England Closets
New England Closets offers custom closet design solutions throughout Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. In addition to traditional reach-in and walk-in closets, we offer solutions for home offices, pantries, mudrooms, entertainment centers, and garages.
We are proud of our company and our journey and strive to provide tremendous customer service and value to each and every one of our customers. We also strive to provide a great work environment for our team – where we all work together to transform our clients’ living spaces.
Our Story
We are Jeffrey Cohen and Raffi Iskenderian, founders of New England Closets. We first met at Capital One, where we worked together, offering financing for home improvement projects. We saw the good, the bad, and the ugly in the home improvement space, and always talked about starting a home improvement company that would be run the ‘right way’.
In 2009, in the midst of the great recession, Jeff and Raffi left Capital One and acquired the Massachusetts ShelfGenie franchise, offering pullout shelving solutions for kitchens, pantries, and bathroom vanities. Twelve years and 5,000 customers later, we continue to operate Shelfgenie, and continue to offer more space, better organization, and easier access – receiving rave reviews from customers.
Throughout the early years of ShelfGenie, we repeatedly asked for closet recommendations. We recommended a few of them, and we would often follow up with our clients to ask how their closet experience went. It was sometimes good, sometimes not-so good. Some of our clients thought the closets were great but ‘crazy expensive’. Other clients were turned off by high pressure sales, and others mentioned that the designers and installers were not on the same page. Almost universally, they told us “You guys need to get into the Closet space!”
In response to this feedback, New England Closets was formed in 2015. It was important for us to have an independent company -not tied to a franchise or national dealer. Because we do not have royalties or needless overhead, we can offer a better value to our customers. And more importantly, because we do not have someone from some far-away place telling us how to operate our business, we can figure out the best solution for our clients without undue restrictions. To ensure our designers, operations team, and installers are on the same team, and we do not subcontract the installation work.
Our entire team takes great pride in our work and in providing the great customer service that we envisioned over 15 years ago. We love seeing our customers’ reactions to their transformed spaces, reading the dozens of 5-star reviews on Google, working with customers on multiple projects, and working with relatives, friends, and neighbors of our clients.
We look forward to transforming spaces like your for years to come. Come visit us at our showroom in Sudbury or Woburn, or reach out to schedule a complementary in-home consultation.
Sincerely,
Jeff Cohen and Raffi Iskenderian
Values
Quality
New England Closets provides high quality solutions for custom closet material, craftsmanship, and customer service. With focused attention to detail, all of our work goes through rigorous quality control. We hold ourselves to the highest standards – every custom closet, every project, every time.
Integrity
At New England Closets, we act in the best interests of our customers. With our promise of legendary customer service, we will always try to do the right thing to meet each clients’ unique needs. We hold ourselves accountable daily to act with integrity and kindness throughout every interaction.
Customer Service
A high quality product usually comes with a high price tag. That’s not the case with New England Closets. Our partnership with vendors like The Closet Works guarantees quality workmanship, and our team guarantees design, delivery, and installation of fantastic storage solutions at unbeatable prices.
Team
Introduction
With decades of experience in the home improvement industry, the New England Closets team, lead by Jeffrey Cohen and Raffi Iskenderian, is dedicated to providing the highest quality products and legendary customer service for each and every customer. From the early days founding a home improvement financing business together, to today’s success as the co-founders of New England Closets, this dynamic team has built a home remodeling empire.
Jeffrey Cohen
Raffi Iskenderian
Raffi’s roots in home improvement run deep—as a licensed contractor, property manager, and now as a business owner. Like his partner Jeff, Raffi has held various business development roles within startup organizations. From that experience, he and Jeff created Shelf Genie in 2009. After immersing himself in kitchen transformations and cabinet resurfacing, Raffi co-founded New England Closets with Jeff in 2015. Before he and Jeff co-founded New England Closets, Raffi and Jeff worked together at Capital One, where they were part of the founding team for Capital One’s Home Improvement Financing Business. Raffi has an MBA from Babson College and an undergraduate degree from Boston College. He and his wife and two children live in Watertown.
