CHICAGO — Before COVID-19 sent most workers home in March, office furniture resellers took orders for dozens, hundreds or even thousands of items at a time.

© Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/TNS
Andrew Sobko, right, and Viktor Tkachuk, left foreground, both with CDL 1000, shop for office workstations with the help of Grisell Feliciano, center, a workspace solutions specialist at Office Furniture Center in Chicago on Nov. 4, 2020.

But in recent months, many of these businesses instead have been besieged by the weary work-from-home masses who are snapping up one refurbished desk and chair at a time, wrestling the goods into their cars and dragging them home.

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It’s one of many examples of business models changing because of the public health crisis, and it’s an indication that office workers are hunkering down for a much longer stint at home than they initially expected when the office market all

Before COVID-19 sent most Chicago workers home in March, office furniture resellers took orders for dozens, hundreds or even thousands of items at a time.

But in recent months, local businesses like Rework and the Office Furniture Center instead have been besieged by the weary work-from-home masses who are snapping up one refurbished desk and chair at a time, wrestling the goods into their cars and dragging them home.

It’s one of many examples of business models changing because of the public health crisis, and it’s an indication that office workers are hunkering down for a much longer stint at home than they initially expected when the downtown Chicago office market all but shut down eight months ago.

Rework has seen noncorporate walk-in and online orders increase to about $100,000 per month, from a pre-pandemic monthly average of $3,000, said Mark Knepper, one of the company’s owners. Business has picked