Grange, Aga show expanded mix in test markets
By Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, January 20, 2003
Lyon, France — Grange and partner Aga Foodservice Group are opening a home furnishings store here to test a new "inspirational" format, with additional test stores planned for Paris, Marseilles and New York.
The 10,000-square-foot Lyon store "has been designed in a series of lifestyle groupings," said Valerie Moran, chief executive officer of Grange North America, who is spearheading the project.
Grange, a maker of high-end furniture and a source for home accents and accessories, owns eight stores in France and 16 design center showrooms in the United States and Canada, and sells to select high-end retailers.
The Lyon store is opening as Grange expands its furniture mix.
"We're introducing three or four groups in outdoor furniture, and a signature piece is a wing chair with Ultrasuede cushions," Moran said.
The new-format store is the first step in Grange's affiliation with Aga, which began last September. The alliance allows Grange to distribute Aga kitchen and bath products worldwide. Aga acquired a 27.4% share in Grange, with Grange President Dominique Mercier remaining majority shareholder.
"Aga is interested in building their brand on the Continent and we are looking to build our brand worldwide," Moran said. "Our advantage is through distribution. We sell in 38 countries, primarily in high-end stores. With Aga we have a chance to go deeper into the home with kitchen and bath. It's very timely."
Aga executives, she said, "are big-picture thinkers" who have acquired Fired Earth, Britain's largest interior finishes company and distributors of bath fixtures, tile and paint, and Elgin & Hall, the premier fire surrounds business. Aga also purchased U.S. home furnishings retailer Domain last year.
The Marseilles test store will be in a chateau, Moran said. A location is still being sought for the New York store. In the Lyon store, lifestyles include Parisian, Provence, Compagna, Romantic, Exotic/Tropical and Nautical. Parisian features charcoal grays, black and white, while Romantic is violet and raspberry, Moran said.
"People have a decorating style and put their colors into products in that lifestyle," she said. "It also simplifies the selling process."
Lyon also will feature Kerola, a major contemporary collection that steps away from the signature Grange looks, she said.
As for the relationship with Domain in the United States, Moran said, "We won't have the same look, but it opens the opportunity to develop product exclusively for Domain."
