By Alicia Fiorletta, Senior Editor
It can be easy to get lost in the highly measurement-driven, technical, and let’s be real, sometimes blah experience of shopping for furniture, home decor and electronics. Some people would rather get their teeth pulled than select a new oven.
I, however, love everything about it. Ever since I moved in with my fiancé, I’ve loved the process of decorating. I think the entire shopping and decision-making process is representative of who we are as people, and of course, who we are as a couple. Plus, people say I’m naturally very good at it, so that’s always a plus!
So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I received an invitation to get an exclusive sneak peek at the new PIRCH showroom at Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the store environment dreams are made of.
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The showroom is the eighth of its kind, and is strategically placed at the heart of New Jersey’s shopping mall epicenter. It also is close enough to the George Washington Bridge, so New Yorkers can enjoy, as well.
Laid out in a series of vignettes, PIRCH takes shoppers on the ultimate home decor journey, filled with creative content, high-quality images and room designs that are worthy of an HGTV segment. In a way, it’s Houzz on steroids and in real life. In my eyes, it’s basically heaven on Earth.
When consumers enter the showroom, they’re greeted by a barista who can make a delectable coffee treat and share a little bit more about the brand story and how the store is laid out. Baristas also act as the “connecting point between the consumer and our store designers and consultants,” said Jeffery Sears, CEO of PIRCH.
Sears is the kind of guy who loves what he does. And you can tell by the way he describes the brand culture, story and promise. How he drills down to the most minute detail of each vignette and hones in on the most subtle details of the retailer’s products, which span from sinks, to bath tubs, shower fixtures, stoves and dinette sets.
He delves into the creative process, and how consumers can come in and spend up to five hours with experts who will help them craft their dream homes. Consumers also can enjoy real-time cooking demonstrations that feature the PIRCH chef staff. Reaffirming its stance as a retailer and lifestyle brand, PIRCH opens its operating kitchens to consumers so they can throw private parties. The back-end kitchen is equipped to feed up to 600 people.
As Sears walks me through each vignette, he shares how each has a “test and learn” element. For the kitchen section, consumers can watch team members cook, for the bathroom section, consumers can see how the motion-activated toilets work, and in the shower room, consumers can use a tablet to test out different shower heads.
It isn’t the vast assortment of products or brand stories that make the PIRCH store so compelling; it’s how the products, content and technology blend so seamlessly together that it feels natural. There’s no technology for technology’s sake…everything has a purpose.
At the end of our 30-minute journey through the store, Sears closes off with what I found to be most miraculous about the brand: “And here, we end back at the cafe,” he said. “You’ll see to the left a series of white mugs, which are part of our signature for the brand. Whenever we open a new showroom, and everything is finished, I place each and every mug myself. It’s my way of saying we’re officially done.”
But in my opinion, it’s only for the beginning for PIRCH.
The PIRCH Garden State Plaza showroom celebrates its grand opening on March 28, 2015.