Chris Yaughn
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| 03 Aug 2008 09:58 PM |
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I may have lost my mind, BUT. We are moving into a showroom. Lots of work to do, but I am pretty excited. I have partnered with a "sister shop" for nearly all of our stone fabrication , and I have a hard time competing with the larger solid surface fabricators on price (surcharges and freight are a killer on two sheets at a time). So I am seeing/doing much less solid surface these days. So much so that I subbed out our last COrian vanity. I t was of course fabbed wrong and I had to return it, but.... I digress....... (How can a CNC cut two bowls differently when they are using the same file???  ) Anyway, I have found a building we will be moving into. Located on Main st. The traffic count is around 10/12 k a day. (Remember this is small town, so that is a HUGE number. 50/60k people in the entire county) Also, the traffic is usually going 5/10 mph when they come by. COnsidering we have done zero retail advertising to this point, I am excited about this. Here is the building.  The old girl is 100+ years old. The light pole out front was set in 1928!! I plan to gut it down to the original brick walls and put in clear store front glass. Re-do the facade etc.... This what we found under the existing drywall.  I am looking for input on do's/don'ts of a small showroom ( 800 sq ft), the back of the building (2000 sq ft) will be used for remnant storage. No specefic questions right now, just excited and wanted to get started. I'll post specifics in time. Here is the progress so far. The first pic is of the showroom from the back when we first saw it. The second is after I worked on it for a week (2 hours here and there) I have nearly filled up (and I mean heaping pile, I hope-they-actually-take-it-filled-up) a 20 yard dumpster by myself (not a lot of labor in the budget for this thing  )   |
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Reuben
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| 03 Aug 2008 10:07 PM |
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Chris,
That is great news to have a showroom. I have been putting mine together over two years and lots i would have done and still do different. First advice is make sure exactly what where and how you want it all displayed. Make sure to allow enough room to add things you might find yourself selling since they are there, like facets, sinks tile and the likes.
Good luck.
Reuben
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Chris Yaughn
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| 03 Aug 2008 10:15 PM |
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I know it sounds crazy, but I am trying to avoid selling the parphery items. Being a small town there are generally one or two major places for each item (plumbing supplies, sinks, tile etc...) I try not to compete with them as they refer a good bit of business to us (and we to them) Here is a top we have in the biggest tile store/showroom in town: Sunset Red w/ a wavy honed black "Z" insert in the middle.  |
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Linda
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| 03 Aug 2008 10:34 PM |
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Chris,
That look exciting. Well worth the effort. |
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Andy
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| 04 Aug 2008 12:27 AM |
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Impressive. Don't worry about what you fabricate and install, just sell it. Being on the front row could bring in some work.
You might want to ask those partners to donate or have the ability to use there faucets and fixtures in your showroom. You might need some faucets, cooktops and sinks for your displays.
Keep the pictures coming, I would love to see your progress.
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Brian_Stone
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| 04 Aug 2008 02:06 PM |
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You found a radio in the wall!!?? |
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Brian_Stone
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| 04 Aug 2008 02:08 PM |
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What town are you located in by the way? |
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Chris Yaughn
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| 04 Aug 2008 04:15 PM |
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Posted By Brian_Stone on 08/04/2008 2:06 PM
You found a radio in the wall!!??  The Brick, not the Radio. The old brick looked so cool it sold me on the whole thing. I am in Statesboro, GA |
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Wags
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| 04 Aug 2008 04:20 PM |
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I would suggest more smaller displays, showing concepts and features rather than a few large displays. I would try and partner with those other suppliers, show and sell their products and have them show and sell yours. I did good business that way with an applicance showroom. I put a working kitchen in their place and they put appliances in my displays, we referred each other, a win win. I would put something wow in the window and make sure it was lite at night. Signage is also important, I would paint a sign on the side of the building if possible also, tell them what you do and why your THE place to get it.
Good luck, showrooms are a lot of work, require someone to man them but they add credibility to your company and should allow you to increase your profit margins. I also found I closed more jobs once I made the customer come in before I would come out to quote them. If they won't use some of their time to come and choose what they want, why should I use my time to give them free quotes. I quoted less but sold more.
Keep us posted on your progress, Im sure your really excited about this, its always a two edged sword, excited and scared at the same time ! |
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Adam
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| 04 Aug 2008 05:54 PM |
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Just make sure that what ever you decide to show in your showroom is a product that is easily accessible and comes from a supplier that you have a good relationship. I have had to replace a few displays in my showroom due to this.....
Just my two cents worth. |
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Wags
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| 04 Aug 2008 06:16 PM |
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You always sell what you show, so, show what you want to sell. |
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Chris Yaughn
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| 04 Aug 2008 07:30 PM |
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Wags, You hit a lot of points that I had in mind. Lights on at night, signage, small detail type displays. I doubt I will have a full kitchen anywhere in the showroom. I want it to have a very high end cozy kinda feel. With a cohesive "look" but still have the ability to say "Would you prefer your sink profile to look like This, This or This..." |
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Brian_Stone
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| 05 Aug 2008 07:20 AM |
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Posted By Adam on 08/04/2008 5:54 PM Just make sure that what ever you decide to show in your showroom is a product that is easily accessible and comes from a supplier that you have a good relationship. I have had to replace a few displays in my showroom due to this.....
Just my two cents worth. I worked at the DuPont booth at a home show in St. Louis a couple years ago. In the 4 hours I was there I had at least a dozen people ask we where they could get the acrylic shelves that the corian samples were sitting on. Make sure you know where everything came from!
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Chris Yaughn
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| 08 Aug 2008 09:10 PM |
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I am going to try and replicate a sample display system like this. Just on a smaller scale. Probably 20 colors or so.  Bad picture, but all of the sheetrock and all the walls that are going, are on the ground. |
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Andy
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| 09 Aug 2008 01:13 AM |
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That looks like a lot of work. I would love to continue to see pictures as you progress through this long process. Best of luck with everything.
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Chris Yaughn
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| 09 Aug 2008 09:25 PM |
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Here is some of the brick being uncovered
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Chris Yaughn
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| 23 Aug 2008 09:14 PM |
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The walls are back to brick and the cieling has been stripped back to the joists. Unfortunatly the ceiling joists are covered w/ mold. Lots of fun cleaning that up.  |
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Linda
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| 24 Aug 2008 11:16 AM |
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Chris,
WOW, that was a lot of work. Looks great.
Do you have to hire someone to remove the mold or can you do it?
How long do you think it will take to finish the showroom?
Linda
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David G.
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| 24 Aug 2008 02:42 PM |
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Chris, we use to put clorox in a spray bottle to apply to mold or mildew and then in a couple days apply Kilz primer to seal it up. Love that old building smell  |
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Andy
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| 24 Aug 2008 02:43 PM |
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I love the look at that wall. Please tell me you are going to leave it brick and not paint it.
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