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Mathis unveils Drexel store

By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, September 30, 2001

OKLAHOMA CITY — Mathis Bros. has opened a 16,500-square-foot Drexel Heritage showroom here, a prototype design for the manufacturer and one Mathis hopes will become the top-performing Drexel store in the country.

With an investment of nearly $3 million, including inventory, the new showroom has a layout that combines tried-and-true display techniques with more cutting-edge approaches and favorite Drexel design elements.

Each corner features a best-selling collection in what is called a lifestyle area. While not officially named yet, the areas are classic (traditional and 18th century styles), Lillian August, today's trends (modern styles) and relaxed looks. Dark, more formal finishes run along the right side of the store and lighter looks are on the left.

Four "inspiration rooms" also are along the sides. These are flexible, three-walled vignettes with chalkboard signage and romantic or comforting names such as Saturday Mornings, Oh Bed! Oh Bed! Delicious Bed and Comfy Cozy.

Also featured are eclectic niches with layered, vertical displays for more of a search-and-discover environment that consumers might find in boutiques or antique shops.

"This is where you come to find that perfect piece" to tie everything together, said Melanie Dunn, director of visual merchandising for Drexel Heritage, whose display planning department created the prototype.

The niche and inspiration rooms areas also double as special events rooms to hold events and seminars. This fall, the store will host Drexel's "A Taste for Living" event focusing on holiday entertaining, dining tables and tabletop display.

The front foyer is dedicated to whatever is new and appropriate for the region. For the opening, the store went with Drexel's Ivory Coast bedroom from Signatures, a year-old collection featured in Drexel's national advertising.

Ceiling levels vary in the store to best suit the settings — 12 feet and finished in the foyer, 10 feet in the lifestyle rooms for better perspective, and 16 feet exposed in the middle of the store. Sisal carpet is laid to match the track of the highest ceilings to help pull consumers into the niches and inspiration rooms.

In the middle of the store is Drexel's design center and rounded fabric wall.

The new store is managed by Mathis Bros.' Becky Page, who also manages the retailer's Thomasville Home Furnishings store in the same shopping center.

"We're hoping to be the highest sales-per-square-foot Drexel store in the country," said Bill Mathis, president of the Top 100 retailer and a partner in the business with his brother Larry Mathis. He added the company is shooting for sales in the $500 per square foot range, although "time will tell."

Drexel plans to roll out additional stores under the new design in Atlanta and Rochester, Minn., early next year and in Las Vegas about a year from now. New dealers for the manufacturer will open all three.

In Portand, Maine, Ron Gobeil of Gobeil's Furniture plans to open one of the newly designed stores in about six months, said Dan Grow, Drexel Heritage president.

Ivory Coast from Drexel Heritage's Signatures collection dresses up the foyer of Mathis Bros.' new Drexel Heritage Home Inspirations store in Oklahoma City.

The new Drexel Heritage store is part of a 56,000-square-foot expansion of a Mathis Bros.-owned home furnishings center. In addition to the Drexel store, the space will be used for a warehouse for Thomasville and Drexel goods and a Bijan Oriental rug gallery, opening soon.

An Edwardian-style leather group gets prime positioning in the Lillian August lifestyle corner.

Drexel Heritage makes a statement with its American Review bedroom in the Simplicity inspiration room.

A quote from actress Candice Bergen and pieces from the Studio Pine and Pinehurst collections fill a casual, eclectic niche in the new store.

Bill Mathis, left, Mathis Bros., Oklahoma City; Dan Grow, Drexel Heritage; Larry Mathis, Mathis Bros.; and Will Sharp, Drexel Heritage.

Melanie Dunn, left, Drexel Heritage; Alan Cole, LifeStyle Furnishings International; and Terry Tarkington, Design Center of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City.

Blain Wrench, left, Drexel Heritage; Robert Stamper, LifeStyle Furnishings International; Becky Page, Mathis Bros. Drexel Heritage Home Inspirations, Oklahoma City; Brent Helm, Drexel Heritage; and Sid Hiatt, Lady Americana, Oklahoma City.

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