Guest Cottage launch set for '04
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, November 23, 2003
Yarmouth, Maine — North Carolina upholstery maker C.R. Laine will manufacture and sell a line designed and licensed by Maine Cottage called Guest Cottage, due to hit retail early next year along with a consumer catalog.
C.R. Laine, which makes the Maine Cottage upholstery line, will be responsible for selling Guest Cottage through its sales force. Maine Cottage sells its namesake line itself to 70 stocking dealers, 1,500 designers and architects, and to its own stores, one in Yarmouth and one in Charleston, S.C., which also could stock the new collection.
Guest Cottage will be at lower price points and be more traditional in style than Maine Cottage.
Maine Cottage has shown in High Point but will take a "sabbatical" from the market, said David Petersen, vice president and general manager. It hasn't been resolved whether C.R. Laine will show Guest Cottage at the market, said Smith Sharpe, C.R. Laine's vice president of sales and marketing.
Six frame styles will be offered in Guest Cottage, with at least four different configurations — typically sofa, loveseat, chair and ottoman — per style. A sectional also will be offered.
The line will retail from $990 to $1,290 for chairs, and $1,590 to $2,090 for 84-inch to 92-inch three-seat sofas, below the Main Cottage line range of $1,990 to $3,290. All Guest Cottage pieces will be available upholstered or in slipcovers.
The target consumer is one "who wants fun, fashionable product that is also well made," said Petersen. "This customer is in her 30s and 40s, with an above-average income, and is interested in a well-furnished home."
Like the Maine Cottage catalog, the 32-page Guest Cottage catalog will feature room settings, item shots and photographic representations of fabrics, along with dimensions and features. A Web site and other collateral materials are being developed.
Petersen said Guest Cottage "strikes a compromise between the narrow fabric choices offered through catalogs and chain lifestyle retailers, and the something-for-everybody fabric bombardment often presented through traditional home furnishings retailers.
"The fabrics and the way they are presented make it clear how they coordinate with each other and represent a common aesthetic, making it easier for a consumer to purchase," he said.
Petersen said Guest Cottage also will simplify other choices. "We have pruned the seat cushion choices down to two offerings, Dacron-wrapped or down-wrapped foam core cushions, and we are pricing each item in only two fabric grades," he said.
Initial Guest Cottage dealers are expected to come from the ranks of Maine Cottage dealers, dealer prospects and designers, Petersen said. The catalog and merchandising approach is tailored for specialty retailers and designers, but should appeal to larger dealers as well, he said.
"C.R. Laine and Maine Cottage make a great team, and we think we have a winning idea," said Petersen.
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