Pennsylvania's Interiors revamps name and store
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, September 8, 2003
Lancaster, Pa. — Retailer Interiors 2000 has dropped the number from its name and overhauled and expanded its store here for a bolder presence in an increasingly competitive market.
The store hired Grid2 International to remodel the interior and exterior, unifying three attached buildings. A fourth building was constructed as the new storefront, featuring a towering atrium entrance.
Selling space was increased to 50,000 square feet from 35,000, sight lines were opened up and the store was reconfigured into largely lifestyle displays.
"We wanted a store that was easy to shop and allowed consumers to move throughout the store and explore as quickly or as slowly as they desired," said Todd Lehman, president and chief executive officer of Interiors, which he co-owns with his brother Gregg Lehman.
Initial response to the new look has been "outstanding," Todd Lehman said, noting large increases in traffic. He wouldn't disclose last year's sales, but projects sales this year will top $10 million, "a nice increase."
"We're pleased with the results and looking forward to even greater increases once the economy improves," he said.
Grid2 developed a hub-and-spoke traffic system, with the atrium serving as the hub. Clear pathways — the spokes — lead to various departments in the store, such as Contemporary Living and European Traditions. One spoke leads to the expanded 9,000-square-foot clearance center next to Interiors' 15,000-square-foot attached warehouse.
Further defining the pathways and tying together the buildings are floating ceilings, a feature Grid2 first developed for bookseller Borders.
The Interiors store also has a scaled-down version of the café concept Grid2 developed 13 years ago for another bookseller, Barnes & Noble, said Dimitri Vermes, Grid2 director of marketing and communications.
The two-story atrium has a lantern effect that "creates the illusion of importance and overall height of the store" and is similar to entrances used by department stores and in a Grid2 retail project in Taiwan, Vermes said.
Lehman said the $2 million Interiors project was prompted by burgeoning competition in the fast-growing Lancaster market, including Top 100 player Wolf Furniture, which recently opened a store here.
The exterior renovation helped the store get more credit for its size, and the goal of the interior overhaul was "to bring our whole showroom up to par with what consumers were expecting in a retail shopping experience," he said.
Interiors was founded in 1967 by the Lehmans' mother, Lillian Lehman, as a contemporary specialist. The new look, the new tagline — "Furniture that fits your point of view" — and a TV advertising campaign developed by Macy Advertising in Lancaster conveys the retailer's objective of "finding the right interiors for each individual based on (her) particular style preference and budget," Lehman said.
"We are customer driven, and we are very much home-plan oriented," he said, estimating that about 60% of the store's business is developed through house calls.
While Interiors changed to lifestyle displays, it didn't change its key suppliers. In the Urban Lifestyles area, a youthful metropolitan look, it features a five-piece Shermag bedroom for $2,399 and upholstery starting at $899 from Klaussner.
Traditional Living features 18th century and other traditional styles from vendors such as Lexington, Harden Furniture, Stickley, Highland House, Century and Alexvale. Contemporary Living has goods from Precedent, Directional, Thayer Coggin, Ello and Creative Elegance.
Key suppliers in the Leather Shop include LeatherTrend, American Leather and Old Hickory Tannery.
The closest the store comes to manufacturers' galleries are areas dedicated to Bernhardt's Martha Stewart Signature collection and Lexington's Susan Sargent line.
