Rumors of the decline of the brick-and-mortar showroom have been greatly exaggerated—at least if Kravet is any indication. The fabric company—which now comprises five lines in its ever-expanding family of brands—plans to open four new showroom locations by the end of the summer, with a new focus on secondary markets like Birmingham, Alabama; Charleston, South Carolina; Water Mill, New York; and Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
“We’re looking for places where there’s a lot of high-end design happening,” says Daniel Kravet, a fifth-generation member of the Kravet family and the company’s vice president of sales. “These are markets where we know there’s great design work occurring, and a lot of our clients are living in these smaller cities and more suburban areas now. We want to be able to meet those designers and their clients where it’s convenient for them and have a location that can serve as a resource for them nearby.”
Charleston offers a prime example of the company’s approach—it’s a city with a bustling design scene, but where the closest dedicated Kravet showroom was previously 300 miles away (in Atlanta). “Of course we want our designers to continue to visit our showroom at ADAC, especially when they need to source a full range of products,” says Kravet, noting that this new showroom model won’t replace the breadth of resources available at a design center. “Having a showroom in their backyard, though, will allow the convenience for them to quickly shop and pull things that they may need for a presentation that same day without having to take a five-hour trip.”
All of the new showrooms will be arranged in the Kravet Workspace model that the company has adopted since piloting the concept at its New York Design Center location in 2019. Designed to be part traditional showroom and part designer meeting place, the Kravet Workspaces provide a self-service color library and a touch-screen kiosk where designers can scan samples from across Kravet Inc.’s brands to instantly view product details, as well as check stock and pricing. The showrooms will also feature Kravet furniture and shop-in-shop experiences like a carpet studio and an area dedicated to the company’s more boutique brands. “We’re taking a page from great department stores and creating these moments that make it easier to shop,” says chief marketing officer Suzanne Cohen. Despite the wide range of brands that Kravet now owns, Cohen says the spaces will showcase a sprinkling of everything the company has to offer.
Some locations will also include conference rooms where designers can host clients and present options in a private setting. “People can book those rooms for the day and accomplish the big task of getting a client to approve different selections right there in the showroom,” says Kravet.
Because these new showroom formats are smaller in footprint than some of the brand’s longstanding counterparts (the Water Mill Workspace will be 1,000 square feet), the product on display will be a bit more curated. “Based on the geography, we’ll lean more into types of product or colorways and textures that suit the market,” says Cohen. “We want to have the most relevant product in that location. So imagine a very coastal feeling in the Hamptons and out in Water Mill. In Charleston, it will be coastal, but also a little more formal.”
Looking ahead, Kravet will continue to pursue this new strategy, homing in on high-end suburban areas outside of metropolitan centers, while also modernizing existing showrooms and continuing to support their sales representatives on the road. “We want to be where our clients are and meet them wherever they might be,” says Kravet.
