Bombay tests off-mall unit
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, November 18, 2001
WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. — WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. — The Bombay Company has opened a 7,280-square-foot, off-mall store in this metro New York town, a new prototype that could broaden the specialty retailer's expansion options.
The store in the new Tices Corner upscale strip center is Bombay's largest — nearly twice the size of its large-format mall stores and larger than other off-mall units it has been opening successfully.
"It's been fantastic," said Steve Woodward, senior vice president of merchandising, although he wouldn't release figures. "We're able to show the Bombay lineup in a more authoritative way."
The company will test the format in at least three locations through next year. In Atlanta, an 8,000-square-foot store is under construction in the new The Forums at Peachtree Parkway, said Brian Priddy, executive vice president of operations. The third location has not been disclosed, but Priddy said the size will be in the range of the New Jersey and Atlanta stores.
At many of its smaller mall stores, Bombay doesn't get credit for the breadth of its merchandise, Woodward said. The new prototype can show product by category, by lifestyles and in mass displays — all 2,000 or so SKUs.
"We do have superstores that have most of the assortment, but this store shows every single piece of our assortment in a very nicely presented, clean way," he said. Few stores in the 400-plus-store chain, for example, show all four of Bombay's bedroom groups in complete settings like the Woodcliff Lake store.
Unlike other Bombay stores with lifestyle displays, the new unit has clear-cut category presentations with bedroom, dining room, home office and occasional tables making up the four main quadrants.
The dining room area features the company's first chair wall. The swing area central to the stores will be changed with the seasons. It now features Christmas gift merchandise. In the spring it will be converted to the garden assortment.
Bombay would not say how many of the larger, off-mall stores it will roll out should the test go well, but clearly is leaning toward off-mall locations for expansion.
By the end of this year about 39 of Bombay's 424 locations will be what it calls off-mall, excluding some 36 outlet stores, which also are not located in malls, said Priddy. About 85% of its openings going forward will be off-mall locations. And through 2004, Bombay has about 215 lease renewals coming up, primarily at malls.
Priddy said the company could choose to renew, relocate to larger space in the mall, close completely or open off the mall, a fairly new bargaining chip in lease negotiations. Over the past few years, the upscale lifestyle centers have become intriguing, he said, drawing Bombay even closer to its consumer base and saving 30% or more in rent over mall locations.
"We are still predominantly a mall-based retailer and I would not want to come off saying we don't like malls," Priddy said. "It just so happens right now that there are a lot of lifestyle projects available, and we've had a lot of early success with our sales performance in these centers."
| Above, the bedroom shop in The Bombay Company's new off-mall prototype store features four fully assembled beds and coordinating textiles. It's the first time the 400-plus store chain has displayed all bedroom furniture together as a department. |
| Right, Bombay shows off its selection of chair styles on its first-ever chair wall in the 7,280-square-foot New Jersey store. |
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