Lexington to Open Designer Showroom at NYDC

October 10, 2011  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Case Goods on October 11, 2011

Full-line furniture vendor Lexington Home Brands will open a 10,000-square-foot showroom at the New York Design Center in November.

This will be High Point-based Lexington's second company-owned trade showroom. Lexington opened at a showroom at the Denver Design District in Colorado in fall 2008. Each of the company's brands will be represented in the space, including Lexington, Tommy Bahama Home and Henry Link Trading Co.

Stefanie Pelusi has joined the company as showroom manager for the new facility. Prior to joining Lexington, she managed the Pierre Deux showroom in Manhattan.

"We have experienced remarkable growth in our to-the-trade design business over the last few years," said Phil Haney, president and CEO of Lexington Home Brands. "This serves to validate the strength and significance of this distribution channel. It also validates our strategic decision to elevate the styling and sophistication of the Lexington product line."

The new showroom will be on the second floor of the New York Design Center, adjacent to Century Furniture and Grange. The space is being renovated to include an entirely new storefront design, a cafe and hospitality area, and a large touch-screen monitor to facilitate product search and custom fabric selection.

"Our experience at the World Market Center in Las Vegas has taught us to become highly effective in utilizing selling space," Haney said. "While our showroom in High Point is 100,000 square feet, allowing us to showcase the remarkable breadth of the Lexington line, our space in Las Vegas is only 25,000 square feet. The use of touch-screen technology to facilitate search and to display our line with high-res imagery and video, combined with our iPad app, which we deployed on the iTunes store over a year ago, allow us to leverage a smaller footprint to our considerable advantage."

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Lexington to the NYDC," said Jim Druckman, president and CEO of the New York Design Center. "The product assortment is diverse, styling is on-point, and the relative value is extremely compelling. We love what they are planning for the build-out, and there is already a buzz in the design community about Lexington. New York is ready for this, and the NYDC will prove an outstanding showcase for the line. In this case, one might say that our building's address on Lexington Avenue seems more than coincidental."

"While our primary distribution channel remains traditional retail, the approach we have taken in elevating the styling and sophistication of the Lexington line has naturally resulted in a heightened interest from the design community," said Haney. "We are in a great position to offer relevant and innovative designs at unexpected values. That proposition is resonating, and the NYDC initiative represents just one component of a larger strategy to address the design channel. It should be a great deal of fun."

While the showroom will open next month, Lexington plans an official grand opening party for Dec. 8.