Robb & Stucky stands tall in mall
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 7, 2005
 *Also see Miskelly's puts fun in furniture shopping |
TAMPA, Fla. — When Lance Hanish arrived for the opening of Robb & Stucky’s newest store in the International Plaza mall here, he saw it was in great company — with Nordstrom as one anchor to the left of the Top 100 company and Neiman Marcus to the right.
 A McCreary Modern sectional with a Bernhardt cocktail table greet consumers at the interior mall entry in the Metro Living area — targeting the younger Tampa consumers with starting retail prices and soft, casual contemporary looks. |
| A McCreary Modern sectional with a Bernhardt cocktail table greet consumers at the interior mall entry in the Metro Living area — targeting the younger Tampa consumers with starting retail prices and soft, casual contemporary looks. |
“And I thought: This is going to be a great day for the furniture industry,” said Hanish, chairman of LBC Advertising, which has handled Robb & Stucky’s ads since 1979. “It takes the whole industry to another level. We’ve never had a platform like this.”
Indeed, the store, Robb & Stucky’s first to anchor a mall, has “raised the bar,” as CEO Clive Lubner put it, combining a variety of new features with the attention to detail the upscale Fort Myers, Fla.-based retailer has long been known for.
The result is a two-level showroom — the largest of the 17 stores — that bowled over many of the estimated 5,000 to 6,000 industry people and other guests at the preview party two weeks ago.
Some of the highlights:
* Eight showcase rooms near the four entrances into the store. Robb & Stucky’s visual display team went all out to bring the wow factor to areas that consumers might otherwise blow by. The rooms, expected to be changed out about three times a year, currently are part of a Salute to New York Design. (A Tribeca room, for instance, has beaded wallpaper, multi-colored pillows, water pipes and colored glass that lend an exotic feel.)
 The color red and eclectic displays are popular in Robb & Stucky’s Contemporary Living area. Shown is a DIA glass-top dining table with Ello chairs in the foreground and black leather upholstery from Calia with an American Leather cocktail table in the background. |
| The color red and eclectic displays are popular in Robb & Stucky’s Contemporary Living area. Shown is a DIA glass-top dining table with Ello chairs in the foreground and black leather upholstery from Calia with an American Leather cocktail table in the background. |
* Couture shops on the upper level, where the salute to New York design continues with displays of Hickory Chair’s Thomas O’Brien, Ferguson Copeland’s Larry Laslo, Kindel’s Dorothy Draper, Henredon’s Ralph Lauren and David Easton collections, Lane Venture’s Celerie and Bernhardt’s Martha Stewart line. Lubner said he hopes to change the rooms every six months or so. * A chandelier and vanity shop. Robb & Stucky has sold these products before, but this is the first time it has grouped them for high impact and easy shopping. While the retailer has a Metro Living area in its Plano, Texas store, the 12,000-square-foot space here is different. It’s parked right off the interior mall entrance and targets a younger consumer with soft urban styles and slipcover looks a la Pottery Barn and Z Gallerie, at price points starting a tad below usual for Robb & Stucky (sofas starting at $799 instead of $999, for instance). * A gift boutique, with classy items like hand-blown Italian vases and sparkling Faberge caviar forks, also is expected to be a draw.
 A vignette from Bernhardt’s Martha Stewart Signature collection is one of several designer model rooms on the upper level paying tribute to New York design. |
| A vignette from Bernhardt’s Martha Stewart Signature collection is one of several designer model rooms on the upper level paying tribute to New York design. |
Soon the store will add a cooking school, hoping to repeat the success of a just-opened Robb & Stucky Casual Living store in Bonita Springs, Fla. that has such a school as well as full working displays of KitchenAid appliances and Wood Mode Custom Cabinetry. The company invested about $3 million in renovating and opening the Tampa store, in a former Lord & Taylor location, not including $4.5 million in inventory for the showroom. President Fred Berk said the Saturday opening drew an estimated 6,000 people, roughly the same number that stormed the party the night before. “It was unbelievable,” he said. “We were not unhappy with the results.” He wouldn’t disclose opening day sales or project what the store will do for the year, but he noted that the other mall anchors do anywhere from $20 million to $40 millions and “we look to contribute in the same way.”
 A Central Park showcase room described as having “Alice-in-Wonderland whimsy” displays a Vanguard sofa surrounded by greenery, iron statuettes, a tea service and a rain of playing cards. |
| A Central Park showcase room described as having “Alice-in-Wonderland whimsy” displays a Vanguard sofa surrounded by greenery, iron statuettes, a tea service and a rain of playing cards. |
The store replaces a much smaller unit in Clearwater, Fla. It is expected to draw from a wider region, pulling from as far north as Gainesville, Fla., as well as Ocala, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Lakeland, Fla. Berk noted that here, as at its eight other full-line stores in Florida, Texas and Arizona, Robb & Stucky is relying on steady supplies from its long-time vendor partners, including Henredon, Century, Marge Carson, Stanley, E.J.Victor, Sligh, Lexington Home Brands and Hancock & Moore While some retailers have cut their price points in the face of competition from lower priced imports, Robb & Stucky is steaming ahead with high-end design here in Tampa and at its other stores. “Anybody looking for luxury in the home furnishings industry needs to look no further,” Lubner said.
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Robb & Stucky stands tall in mall
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