Hollywood isn’t the only place interested in sequels and spinoffs. Furniture retailers Room & Board, the Mart Sample Store and Bed Bath & Beyond, a discount chain, have their own coming attractions.
Room & Board
Room & Board’s “mix-and-don’t-match” contemporary furniture store, the sixth in the retail chain, has opened at Chicago Place, 700 N. Michigan Ave. in a two-floor, 27,000-square-foot showroom.
“You’ll find colors, fabrics and styles mixed together from one room (setting) to the next, so customers can see everything doesn’t have to match,” says John Gabbert, Room & Board president.
But Gabbert says contemporary doesn’t necessarily mean modern.
“Contemporary is a point of view about mixing and not matching furnishings. It’s freedom to express yourself the way you want.”
Sofas are $700 to $1,000; beds, $600 to $1,000, and dining chairs, $100 to $250.
Room & Board’s furnishings are made by craftsmen and small manufacturers in the Midwest and New England. Many pieces birch, cherry or maple. Table tops are wood, glass or stone. Upholstered sofas and chairs are covered in natural fabrics.
The Michigan Avenue store is the second in the area. The other is at 10071 Skokie Blvd., Skokie.
The Chicago Place store is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, until 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. The phone is 312-266-0656.
The Mart Sample Store
The Mart Sample Store, which came to Westmont four years ago, will open another store, at 153 W. Ohio St., Dec. 1.
“I know the name is a little misleading, but when we first started the business we sold sample furniture that came from the showrooms in the (Merchandise) Mart and High Point (N.C.),” says Dwayne Moore, owner with his wife, Sharon.
“Within a very short time of starting we determined that it was difficult to sell only samples because people wanted them in other colors, other fabrics. We began to change (the focus of the store) and were contacted by manufacturers who wanted us to represent them.”
Now the two stores represent 150 to 160 furniture manufacturers, mostly designer lines.
The Moores say the furniture is discounted up to 40 percent, and customers can take items off the floor the day they’re purchased. Custom orders also are available.
Hours for the Chicago store are being decided. For further information call 312-670-8155.
Bed Bath & Beyond
Ask Bed Bath & Beyond’s salespeople what the store doesn’t have and you might hear goose down pillows drop.
“That’s a hard one, really you can find almost everything except clothing here,” says regional manager Marty Lynch.
Bed Bath & Beyond, a Springfield, N.J.-based discount chain of designer linens and home furnishings superstores, opened a store in Downers Grove this month, its fourth in the Chicago area.
Advertised as the “one-stop shopping adventure,” the store has brought everything-except clothes, groceries and that infamous kitchen sink-to its new 72,000-square-foot location.
There are aisles of bed linens, towels, glassware, dinnerware, cookware, housewares and even something for your next beach vacation. In one aisle, beach umbrellas in rainbow shades are grouped like a giant bouquet.
The store offers merchandise by Wamsutta, Martex, Fieldcrest, Mikasa, Krups, Henckels and Rowenta, at 20 to 40 percent off retail.
Other stores are at 96 S. Waukegan Rd., in Deerbook Mall, Deerfield; 6132 Grand Ave., Gurnee, and 1321 Golf Rd., Schaumburg.
Hours for all stores are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The Downers Grove phone number is 708-620-5530.
