design:retail - March 2016 - (Page 96)
096
By ERIN M. LOEWE
Photos by CHRISTOPHER BARRETT
urnished
Force
Midwest home giant
Art Van Furniture continues
its rapid expansion into the
Chicago market with a
flagship mega-store in
Chicago's Downers Grove
MARCH 2016
DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM
GLOBALSHOP.ORG
L
ike many other areas of retail, furniture shopping has
evolved to suit consumer tastes over time. Endless seas
of couches and dining areas have transformed into fully
appointed lifestyle vignettes, and companies are racing to
imbue new experiences to keep customers comfortable
and engaged during what can sometimes be a long process.
One company keeping things fresh is Warren, Mich.-based
Art Van Furniture Inc., which opened its Downers Grove flagship store (its eighth in the Chicago area) in summer 2015. Art Van
Furniture is in the middle of a $50 million, two-year expansion that
will include 11 stores by mid-2016. Designed in-house, Chicago's
Downers Grove location is the chain's largest store to date in its
55-year history.
The mega-store includes one of the company's PureSleep
Mattress stores on the second floor, and it has dedicated areas for
higher-end market touches, like a Karastan Rug gallery and Scott
Shuptrine Interiors. The Downers Grove flagship occupies a former
Home Depot Expo Center that had been sitting vacant for years.
"When we spotted the building on two busy freeways, it was a
natural billboard," says Diane Charles, vice president of corporate
communications at Art Van Furniture. "With 112,000 sq. ft., two
floors and plenty of natural light, it was the granddaddy of all our
stores and had to be our flagship store."
The previous store's exterior had been wall-to-wall concrete
with a small entrance and barely any windows. Part of the enormous renovation included spending $3.5 million to create a "wall
of windows" that spans 12,000 sq. ft. This, along with 60 skylights
inside, adds an impressive amount of natural light to an environment that normally depends on more artificial illumination.
http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM
http://www.GLOBALSHOP.ORG
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - March 2016
design:retail - March 2016
Contents
Editor's Note
GlobalShop Talk
On Trend
We Love This!
Designer Picks
Clicks & Mortar
Postcard
Perspectives
Have You Heard?
The Visual Eye
Searching for Steve Jobs
GlobalShop 2016
Chelsea Collective
Primark
Marqt
Ports 1961
Art Van Furniture
Ted Baker
Design Leaders Listing
Products
Backstory
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