Sales floor a lot like classy home
Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, March 2, 2003
Waterloo, Ontario — Home Fashion Market believes nothing sells a great home environment better than a great home environment in its store.
Music, scents, textures and colors are used to enhance themed "halls" of coordinated room settings. "Each hall showcases another style and product category, making the layout very consumer friendly and memorable," said co-owner Stan West.
The front door opens onto a limestone-floored Grand Hall with a 14-foot ceiling and a double-sided, open-flame fireplace. Beyond a row of columns is an atrium with clerestory windows, which raise the ceiling another 14 feet. Here, visitors hear the chatter of exotic birds in antique cages and smell the aromas of the store's Parisian street café.
Off to one side is a children's room with videos, games and other diversions to entertain youngsters while their parents take in the store's 94 room settings.
Home Fashion Market's displays vary according to category and style. Formal dining is shown in an 18th century environment featuring a full-beamed, recessed ceiling, paneled walls and a walnut floor. Casual dining has an outdoor garden theme and features Mexican tile flooring and walls with flower-strewn trellises.
Leather upholstery has a Tudor theme, and casual bedroom has the understated elegance of British Colonial. Motion upholstery is given the home theater/entertainment center treatment, complete with a working popcorn machine.
In each area, flooring and ceiling treatments change, as does the background music. Each also has a distinct scent, from sweet coconut oil in the tropical area to subtle botanicals in the formal dining room, all controlled by a central distribution system.
West stresses that everything in the store can be purchased, including the special floor treatments in various areas throughout the store.
The mix includes furniture, window coverings, wall coverings, flooring, area rugs, wall art, lighting and decorative accents. In all, HFM offers over 25,000 items, although most are not physically on display. West said that over 80% of business is special order and that 31% is generated through vendor catalogs.
Home Fashion Market offers a virtual store tour on its Web site.
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