Rustic retail works for Broyhill
Ray Allegrezza -- Furniture Today, March 4, 2011
BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — Back in 2004 when Broyhill opened its first company-owned Broyhill Home Collections store here in this rustic and affluent high mountain town, the goal was to bring new meaning to the specialty store concept.
Inside, the specialty store format came in the form of the store's sharply focused lifestyle approach that reflected many of the area's tony lodge-type homes.
Helping to take that format to the next level, Broyhill designed the exterior of the 20,000-square-foot store to resemble an upscale lodge and even used local pine logs to reinforce that statement.
Furniture/Today, which covered the store's opening in 2004, recently revisited the location and spoke to store manager Peter Caron to see how the Blowing Rock location has fared since its inception.
"We've had the good fortune to have done well every year since we opened the store," Caron said. "And we even had healthy gains last year, which was a tough time for all retailers."
Caron explained that the store benefits from two distinct customer bases.
"Of course, we do a good business with the locals and North Carolinians from Charlotte and Raleigh, but we also attract lots of tourists from out of town, especially from areas such as Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee," he said.
He added that from day one, the focus at the store, which has an even mix of case goods and upholstery, has been on merchandising the furniture just as it might look in the consumer's home.
| A shopper entering the Broyhill store in Blowing Rock,
N.C., first sees a massive stone fireplace, complete with
a mantle made of a quarter-sawn pine and elk antlers.
Right behind a faux stag is an Attic Heirlooms rectangular
leg table, the store’s most popular dining room table. |
 |
 |
This kitchen island, part of the Broyhill Choices dining room collection, features a table that recedes into the island. Items in this collection are available in 10 finishes. |
| Furniture store or
upscale lodge? Thanks
to the use of logs
harvested in North
Carolina, the 20,000-
square-foot Broyhill
Home Collections store
in Blowing Rock, N.C.,
could easily pass for
either one. |
 |
 |
Initially, the store only carried products from Broyhill. But
over the years, it has added goods from sister companies
Lane and Henredon, whose sofa is pictured here. |
| Upstairs, shoppers can see the traditional 18th century Ferron
Court bedroom suite from Broyhill. |
 |
Although the store carried only Broyhill product early on, it broadened its selection three years ago by adding furniture from sister brand Lane.
Two years ago, Caron said, the store brought in select items from Henredon and will now widen its offerings again, this time with help from Maitland-Smith.
"Other than broadening our selections with these other FBI brands, we've by and large stuck to our mission of showing the Broyhill line in as attractive a way as possible," Caron said.
Caron added that because of the large number of consumers from out of the area, he strives to make the Blowing Rock store a "merchandising ambassador" for Broyhill furniture. "Of course, we are thrilled if they buy it here, but we want the store to be so visually appealing that even if they buy when they get to their home city, they buy Broyhill," Caron said.
To that point, the Blowing Rock store, a multilevel tribute to mountain resort living, is anything but typical in terms of its merchandising point of view.
Consumers approaching the store walk up to a large front porch, complete with welcoming rocking chairs. Inside, the first thing shoppers see is a massive stacked-stone hearth fireplace capped by a quarter-sawn log and elk antlers.
The use of light planked wood flooring throughout the entire store reinforces the notion of being in a large and upscale lodge.
However, even with this façade, the store offers prices that make it competitive with other area retailers. For example, a number of sofas tagged at $979 were being offered at a 35% discount.
"But what we really are all about is service, great product and a very distinct and focused lifestyle presentation," Caron said. "That combination has made us successful since our launch."
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