Room to bear

Christine Carrillo

Opening its doors for the first time in California, Room & Board,

which serves more than 7,000 customers throughout the state, aims to

broaden its reach with its new location at South Coast Plaza Village.

After the store’s grand opening on Saturday, Orange County

residents and current Room & Board customers will no longer have to

rely on the accuracy of photographs of home furnishingsin the catalog

or on the Web site. Instead, they will be able to peruse the

47,000-square-foot home store to get a feel for the products and

displays.

Adhering to the notion that home store purchases tend to be

significant decisions for their customers to make, John Gabbert, the

store’s founder, said that by displaying furniture and furnishings in

a room-like setting and employing knowledgeable staff, the store will

ease customers’ minds when they debate whether to make a purchase.

“Our people are there to help you do the room,” he said. “[The

displays] are just to help them get an idea of what goes together.”

By focusing on thoroughly planned displays of their furniture,

furnishings and accessories, all of which are available for purchase,

customers can also get a feel for how the items would actually look

in their homes.

“I’ve been in their store and I live with enough of their products

... [making catalog purchases] wasn’t a problem for me,” said Jocelyn

Bratter, a Newport Coast resident who has been shopping Room & Board

since 1993. “It was a lifestyle. It was enticing and I wanted my home

to look like that.”

Since the late 1980s, shortly after the company was founded, Room

& Board pulled away from the industry norm of trend-driven furniture

design and began to establish relationships with small, family-owned

furniture manufacturers. Gabbert, whose family was in the traditional

furniture business, felt that by working with smaller manufacturers,

he could improve the quality and styles of the furniture.

“We know we get quality and we have a quality point of view,”

Gabbert said. “We believe that a good classic design will last a long

period of time.”

In 1998 he found another way to give his customers the furniture

and furnishings they were looking for. He founded Retrospect, which

will open jointly with Room & Board. While Room & Board will provide

customers with 20th- and 21st-century styles, Retrospect will offer

items characteristic of the 18th and 19th centuries, to cater to

various tastes

Gabbert believes that the presence of the other home stores nearby

will benefit his business.

“We like the idea that we’re near other home stores,” he said. “We

think it’s a hard decision for people to make, especially buying

furniture. It’s a big decision to make .... This way people can look

around.”