Masins goes big in Bellevue
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, April 11, 2004
BELLEVUE, Wash. — Family-owned Masins, which lost a store to a devastating fire two years ago, has reopened a few blocks down the street with a bigger, better store and an eye on tripling its business in this Seattle suburb.
The two-store, Seattle-based retailer opened the 28,000-square-foot, two-level store on Main Street. It's nearly twice the size of the 15,000-square-foot showroom destroyed by fire in December 2001, and features a more open and inviting layout designed by Masins buyer and visual display coordinator Rich Holliday.
Consumers are greeted at the entrance by a working fireplace and tile floors. Masins broadened its offerings from its existing vendors and added some features, including an Antique Acquisitions gallery with 18th and 19th century English furniture, paintings and other home accents bought in London through auction houses.
A conference room was added, as was a state-of-the-art fabric and designer presentation area.
Masins also greatly increased its assortment of imported Italian case goods, primarily from Rho, mostly Neoclassical and traditional pieces with decorative inlays.
John Stevens, the retailer's public relations manager and antiques buyer, said the Italian pieces are mixed in with more traditional pieces from such vendors as Henkel-Harris and E.J. Victor.
Other features in the new store include a lower-level Baker gallery that includes the new Thomas Pheasant line, and a large Stickley gallery, playing to the continuing popularly of the Arts and Crafts style in the Seattle area, Stevens said.
Upstairs, Masins has a mix of home office furniture and leather upholstery, including a Coach leather gallery.
Bob Masin, president and third-generation operator, would not provide sales figures or projected numbers, but said the response from consumers "has been wonderful. I'd like to do three times the business" of the former store, he said.
"On Saturdays, we used to get maybe 50 people in the store," Masin said. "Now we're getting over 300. It's just phenomenal traffic. One of our problems is being able to talk to everyone."
Masins recovered from the 2001 fire without laying off any employees. While the new store was under construction, its designer employees worked out of a 3,000-square-foot temporary boutique directly across the street, "really just to maintain relationships with clients and have a presence," Stevens said.
Grand opening events for the new store included a raffle benefiting the Bellevue Fire Department's educational programs, and visits by interior designer Thomas Pheasant and a Stickley representative who discussed the manufacturer's contribution to the American Arts and Crafts movement. A leather demonstration included the step-by-step construction of a Hancock & Moore chair.
Masins also brought in Judith Gura, author of the book "House Beautiful," for an event hosted by the store in conjunction with the Seattle Art Museum. Stevens said the event, which included a book sale and signing, benefited the museum while drawing in "a new traffic base that might not have come to the store otherwise."
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