Luxury room package retailer Tui Lifestyle expanding
Company plans to open in more cities
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, October 25, 2010
 Tui Lifestyle’s new 7,500-square-foot showroom in New York’s SoHo district gives the young retailer and designer of luxury home furnishings packages its first Northeastern exposure and its third corporate showroom. |
NEW YORK — Tui Lifestyle, a designer and retailer of luxury turnkey room packages, has opened a third showroom here and announced plans to expand into other cities through a network of authorized dealers.
Miami-based Tui, developed and led by Chairman Jason Atkins and international designer Tui Pranich, was launched in late 2008 with a strategy of offering in-stock upscale packages of everything for the home - from sofas and bedroom groups to big-screen TVs, luxury bath towels and cookware sets.
The retailer has been promising white-glove delivery and setup within 72 hours for customers within 300 miles of its Miami distribution center and showroom. With the opening of the New York showroom and temporary warehousing in that market, Atkins said Tui will extend the 72-hour promise to clients across the East Coast.
Interior packages range from about $10,000 to more than $50,000 and can include everything from custom-made upholstery and case goods to art and decorative accessories, mattresses, sheets, towels, cookware, music, scented candles and bathroom essentials from designer shower rods all the way down to the soap dish.
The larger the package, the greater the discount off the retail price, according to Atkins.
 Tui Lifestyle’s Avenue package brings modern flair to French transitional furniture with a high lacquer finish, dark woods combined with stainless steel and leather seating. A 22-piece furniture package for the living room, dining room and bedroom is priced at about $46,000. |
That growing discount and the appeal of having everything in the home in one fell swoop (no more shopping, no more days off from work to meet the delivery truck) has helped boost the average ticket to about $37,000. Installations are a "well-orchestrated event, with four to five workers taking the entire day to set up a complete home, which could everything from installing a home office to polishing and putting away the silverware.
With two Miami locations, Tui did about $7 million in packages in its first year and is on track to do about $25 million this year, Atkins said. Today, Tui is selling about 85 to 90 room packages a month. For 2011, with the addition of authorized dealers, Atkins is projecting $45 million in sales.
Goods sold in the room packages are sourced from around the world, he said, with upholstery coming primarily from the United States and case goods from Asia. Roughly half of the merchandise is designed by and is exclusive to Tui. That should grow to about 80% by the end of next year, Atkins said.
In addition to the 7,500-square-foot New York showroom on Greene Street in SoHo, Tui has opened Abba House in Doral, Fla., and high-rise condo development and developer The Vue in Orlando, Fla., as authorized dealers. The Vue is one of several upscale condo developments Tui has been selling packages into, and the developer has opened a Tui Lifestyle showroom on the lower level of the building.
Others dealers will be coming soon in Naples and Palm Beach, Fla., though the company wouldn't disclose the names of the retailers. Atkins said Tui also is interviewing prospective dealers in 10 other cities, including Philadelphia, Washington, Charlotte, N.C., Atlanta and Jacksonville, Tampa and Sarasota, Fla.
It also plans to open a second permanent distribution center in northern New Jersey in the second quarter of 2011 and one in Las Vegas, serving that market and the West Coast, early in 2012
In most cases, Tui is looking for the dealers to commit to at least 3,500 square feet of space for a boutique-style operation and to buy the package samples. Dealers get a sales commission starting at 25% and Tui takes care of everything else, including merchandising, marketing, delivery and after-sale service.
 Tui Lifestyle’s Elegant package features classic and contemporary designs, with “exotic wood” sofa and lounge chairs shown with stainless steel and wood coffee tables, along with simple side tables topped in onyx lamps for warmth and elegance. |
The company has seven whole-home package offerings in lifestyles ranging from traditional to contemporary. Tui stocks all of them, an estimated $20 million of inventory, in its distribution center.
Clients include architects, developers and homeowners with household income generally starting at about $250,000 a year.
Atkins said Tui will soon offer a consumer financing option, which should enable the retailer to reach young professionals who may not have as much cash on hand to lay out for home furnishings.
It may seem counterintuitive to think wealthy people would jump at one of seven packages of home furnishing and accessories rather than demand something that won't necessarily be found in a condo three floors down. Atkins said he was concerned about this initially, too, and originally planned a package concept in more moderate price range targeting a much less affluent consumer.
But he said he has found that most affluent customers don't care who else has the look and, indeed, when Tui did make small changes - to accent pillows, lamps and rugs, for example - to mix it up a little, most customers didn't like it. They wanted the room exactly the way they had seen it online, in a photo or in the showroom. Fewer than 30% of Tui's clients want a little customization, and an even smaller percentage choose to mix and match with their own designs.
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