Thomasville reinvents its store
By Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, June 5, 2006
Thomasville, N.C. — Among hanging racks, wall-mounted plasma TV screens and three-tiered displays of lamps, a clean-edged cashier's desk stands smack in the middle of the new Thomasville prototype store here.
On the wall of the sales counter — a pay station that aims to help facilitate impulse buys as Thomasville's dedicated store network moves deeper into accessories — is the new signature "field of Ts" wallpaper, a design that's also on shopping bags and tissue paper.
The company hopes the interlaced Ts become an icon similar to lettering associated with other luxury brands, said Mark Smiley, Thomasville's manager of national brand communication.
The new concept store, unveiled to dealers at the April market, has a more spacious feel than the previous prototype, rolled out in 2004, and marks a push for more brand control and consistency, and a more consumer-focused marketing approach emphasizing impulse purchases.
The new 11,000-square-foot format will be used in about six new stores this year, said Bob Schaffer, vice president of creative development. The goal is for all 162 Thomasville stores to capture the same general feel, "somewhat the same as Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel and Williams-Sonoma," he said.
It's the company's first model store at corporate headquarters here, and will be used as a working laboratory for new ideas, Schaffer said.
The company doesn't intend to open the store to the public.
With reduced product density, the new store has a more open feel, said Amy Blum, who works in retail design and development at Thomasville. The company believes consumers will buy an item from a collection even if that particular SKU isn't on the floor, she said.
And more square footage allocated to settings of collections should make the store easier to shop and less visually overwhelming, Blum added.
Thomasville stores typically average between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet.
Major collections are placed in focal areas, such as the front and central areas of the store, and smaller settings have been relocated to less prominent areas, Blum said.
The impulse-buy sales counter is in the middle of the store, but more extensive purchases will still be handled in the back, where consumers can sit down.
An extensive lamp display and a rug rack marks Thomasville's deeper foray into accessories and impulse purchases.
The company introduced at the April market 48 lamps and an exclusive line of 25 rugs made in India, featuring the same color palette as fabrics introduced at market.
Schaffer said Thomasville plans to venture into other accessory categories such as draperies, wall art, vases and candles.
Brad Emanuel, a principal in two Thomasville stores in Illinois, said he supports the move to develop a more consistent brand image and become more consumer-centric. He hopes to open three stores modeled on the new prototype over the next three-to-five years as the company redevelops the Chicago market.
"I thought (the new prototype) was a great definition of the branding concept (that new Thomasville President) Nancy Webster believes in," Emanuel said. "I think it will invite customers into the store more frequently. It really sends a message to consumers that Thomasville is exciting, new, knows its market and is watching trends."
Thomasville plans to bring four company-owned stores in the San Francisco Bay area in line with the new format. Irwin Greenberg, president of five Thomasville stores in California, said he likes many of the new ideas and will watch how the new concept is received locally.
Thomasville's Schaffer said that after opening about six new stores this year, the company hopes to add 10 to 12 stores a year, and will be aggressive in getting dealer-owned stores to convert to the new model, offering unspecified incentive packages.
"There's lots of variance in the stores," Schaffer said. "It'll be very hard to rein them in and get them all to look alike. We intend to work with them. We can suggest what we want them to do, but we can't force them.
"We're very consumer-centric and consumer-focused now, and that's all a result of Nancy's viewpoint and influence on us," he said.
Webster previously was vice president of hardlines product development at Target stores. She was named Thomasville president last August by parent Furniture Brands International, and charged with bringing "fresh vision and perspective" to the company.
