Listed clothing and homeware retailer Foschini will open its very first @home livingspace store on Thursday, a larger-format version of its @home chain offering an expanded range of home decor and furniture, to take advantage of South Africa’s ever- increasing demand for formal housing and the great retail boom fuelled by the emerging middle class.
Foschini said on Wednesday that the first @home livingspace store will open in the new Willowbridge shopping centre in Tygervalley, Cape Town, to be followed by a second in the Design Quarter in Fourways, Johannesburg, on November 24.
According to the retailer, the new format aims to satisfy the hunger of the burgeoning middle class for affordable contemporary furniture and accessories to decorate their new homes.
Howard Godfrey, MD of @home, explained that the @home livingspace stores will extend the massively successful @home concept. If the first two are successful, Foschini will roll out further stores countrywide.
“They will be larger, 1 700 to 2 000 square metres over two floors, and incorporate contemporary furniture, lighting and fun art together with all the accessories available in existing @home stores.”
The Foschini Group team behind the @home livingspace concept is the same one that successfully introduced @home stores in May 2001. There are now 40 @home stores across South Africa.
“The innovative stores will be launched in the new Willowbridge and Design Quarter centres because these sophisticated yet trendy locations specifically cater for decor- and design-conscious consumers,” said Godfrey.
The new @home livingspace stores will have a revolutionary design enabling consumers to visualise how to put the pieces together fashionably in their bedrooms, lounges, dining rooms, kitchens, bathrooms and outdoor entertainment areas.
Professional decor consultants on the floor will provide tips on combining furniture, fabrics and accessories to ensure customers, bowled over by the @home look, will be able to replicate it at home.
Couches will be made to order with @home livingspace providing quick turnaround times, all part of a seamless operation ranging from in-store service to the delivery of goods to homes anywhere in South Africa.
“Our buying team for @home livingspace travel widely to keep abreast of global trends, visiting trade fares to source the best products at competitive prices and hooking up with local and international furniture-design companies to supply exclusive pieces to @home livingspace,” said Godfrey.
In keeping with the @home ethos, the new @home livingspace stores will offer sought-after contemporary furniture and accessories at affordable prices and on credit. — I-Net Bridge