Home Co. launches Atlanta store
Superstore adds home office, design studio
By Tom Edmonds -- Furniture Today, November 12, 2001
Gwinnett County, Ga. — The Home Co. — Fine Furniture Direct has opened its third high-end superstore, a 90,000-square-foot unit in this Atlanta suburb.
With a space in the new Discover Mills, an off-price mall developed by the Mills Corp., the new store is similar to its predecessors in San Marcos, Texas, and Hagerstown, Md. But the latest store has some product departments, including home office and an interior design studio, not found in the others.
The presentation is built around both manufacturer names and lifestyles, with galleries for Henredon, Ferguson Copeland, Maitland-Smith, Hickory Chair, Baker, Ralph Lauren and Lexington. Lifestyle galleries are called Relaxed Home, Traditional Home, Collectors Home and Urban Home. Displays are fully accessorized with ample room around each vignette.
"We are trying to create something different in these stores," said Steve McKee, president. "The true test is whether the consumer likes it."
Marvin Traub, chairman, said environmental settings allow consumers to base decisions on aesthetics. "Making a decision about an expensive piece of furniture that you're going to live with a long time has to be about more than just the price," said Traub, the former longtime Bloomingdale's executive.
This Atlanta store is the first for The Home Co. with mall access. The others are located in outlet malls owned by The Prime Co.
Founded in 1998, The Home Co. also plans to open stores in Chicago in May and Denver next November.
| At the grand opening party for the new Home Co. store are Lewis Norman, left, Bernhardt; Darrell Ferguson, Ferguson Copeland; and Carl Levine, a consultant for The Home Co. |
| The store is attached to an off-price mall in the heart of growing Gwinnett County, Ga. |
