Startup Star: Commercial Office Interiors

At a time when many employees are still working remotely, two partners with complimentary skill sets have been able to grow their new office furniture business by offering a one-stop shopping experience.  

Josh Flibotte, president, and Joe Aiello, vice president, of Commercial Office Interiors in Londonderry, have more than 10 years of experience transforming office spaces and have procured furniture for home offices, small to medium businesses and Fortune 500 companies. 

The two met when Aiello worked at a firm where Flibotte was COO and slated to take over ownership. Instead, the pair decided to join forces and start a new company in November 2022. “[Joe] loves the business back end, and he’s phenomenal at it,” says Flibotte. “I have the operations and sales experience. We had the right characteristics and the same vision to implement Commercial Office Interiors. It’s a startup as far as eight months of the brand being alive, but we’ve really been doing this for over a decade together.” 

Despite the increase in work-from-home and oversupply of office space in some markets, Flibotte says Commercial Office Interiors has thrived. It is little wonder considering their experience. Their previous company posted its most profitable year in 2020 as it leaned into pandemic needs, says Flibotte. “We were able to do the sanitization stations, social distance signs and medical grade facilities. It was the luck of the draw that we’ve always been in these products,” he says.  

Aiello says one of the biggest advantages Commercial Office Interiors has is being an independent dealer. “It effectively makes us supply chain agnostic as we can source from the entire industry, unrestricted. No matter what someone needs we can actually get it, meet just about any budget in any timeline.” Commercial Office Interiors works with more than 100 manufacturers. 

Flibotte says the company will be expanding into hospitality, hospitals and education. They currently partner with the Fisher Cats and provide stadium seating, custom glass and movable walls.