Winans Reno unit gets fast start
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, January 19, 2004
RENO, Nev. — RENO, Nev. — Winans Furniture's newest and largest store here is off to a strong start as the family-owned retailer takes its combination of category and lifestyle displays to a new level.
The leased 80,000-square-foot store — including an attached warehouse with a mezzanine level — was designed by Paul Kepler of New Jersey-based Interior Space Concepts and is an anchor in Kietzke Center.
It gives the northern Nevada retailer better access to the north end of the Reno market, said Andrew Winans, president of the three-store business he co-owns with brother Scott Winans. Julius M. Feinblum Real Estate brokered the deal for the space, a former Mervyn's department store.
The store replaced a 16,000-square-foot unit Winans opened in 2001 as a trial balloon in Reno. The new store has a broader presentation in nearly all furniture categories, new lifestyle displays, sharper accessorization and a 5,000-square-foot clearance center.
With roughly 40,000 square feet of selling space, the new store is twice the size of Winans' 20,000-square-foot store in nearby Minden and larger than its 30,000-square-foot home-base store in Carson City, south of Reno.
A six-week sale before the move enabled the store to open with all-new merchandise at the Reno store. It features open spaces, high ceilings and eye-catching point-of-purchase materials created by Baltimore-based Horich Parks Lebow.
Consumers like the larger floor, Andrew Winans said.
"It's been outstanding," he said. "We've been adding to our customer base on a weekly basis."
The company invested more than $400,000 in the expansion, including inventory, and is projecting sales will reach $25 million this year, up from $16 million last year. Andrew Winans wouldn't disclose individual store sales numbers or projections.
"We've broadened our assortment and better defined styles at all (middle) price points," he said.
Among other things, Winans expanded its lineup of casual dining from A-America and filled out its display of Klaussner's Dick Idol, which Winans said has been "a super line."
In addition to a Dick Idol lifestyle area, Winans created a lifestyle display along the lines of Broyhill's Attic Heirlooms, but with goods from Bassett and Vaughan-Bassett as the primary resources. It also pulled together youthful contemporary styles from Bassett, Thornwood and Dynasty in a Crate & Barrel-like area, and developed a casual Southwest or "Hacienda" area featuring such suppliers as Team II and Mike Cims.
"We've gone deeper into Thornwood for a lot of those (Southwest) looks," Andrew Winans said.
Through Conrad Grebel Furniture Collection, Winans is offering an Amish dining room line at the top of its price spectrum ($1,599 to $3,000 for a table and four chairs).
He said it has been refreshing to see that consumers recognize the quality and are willing to pay for it.
In leather, Winans expanded its offerings from DeCoro and LeatherTrend, and reintroduced Berkline and BenchCraft in a growing motion business at all three of its stores.
Other key suppliers include Woodmarc and Stylecraft, and Spring Air and Tempur-Pedic in bedding.
With the new store's attention to accessorization, Winans is looking for the home accents business to eventually double to 7% of total sales.
The new showroom is backed up by a 15,000-square-foot warehouse here, as well as a main distribution center in Carson City.
Winans continues to promote quality, service and quick delivery. typically within two to three days of an order.
It has a new fleet of trucks with an updated tie-down system that reduces shifting and a "kneeler" system that lowers trailers to waist level for easy loading and unloading.
"We're doing everything we can to be state of the art," Andrew Winans said.
