Brown Squirrel Furniture Renovates For First Time In 44 Years

Furniture World News Desk on 3/2/2015

The recent grand opening of the newly renovated Brown Squirrel Furniture store in Knoxville, TN, marked the first time in 44 years that the 70,000-square-foot, single-store operation has undergone a major facelift. And, according to Preston Matthews, president, Brown Squirrel (so named for an old story his grandfather used to tell about distant relative, Davy Crockett), has never looked better.



When Matthews and his brother, Doug Matthews, Jr., purchased Brown Squirrel Furniture from their father three years ago, Preston knew the time was right for reinvention. “My dad has been in the furniture retail business here in Knoxville since 1951,” says Matthews, who has overseen the family business since 1988. “Back in the early ‘70s, he heard about a new concept that Levitz Furniture was creating known as the warehouse showroom. He designed our store to emulate it, and we were probably the last store in the country to adopt that particular format, because that concept virtually died in the mid-‘80s.”

The brothers turned to retail strategist Connie Post for a much-needed update. “We looked at other designers, but she’s the best,” Preston describes. “We wanted to create something unique, that not only modernized us, but a store that would reflect the community and our position as the area’s hometown retailer, as well as the region we serve,” he describes. “Connie understood exactly what we wanted to do and executed it to a ‘T,’ making the process hassle-free. She’s very professional.”

--Where There Are Smokies--

Change began with the exterior and the entrance. Where once customers walked through the front doors directly into the warehouse—encountering racks of furniture before entering the actual showroom—the warehouse side of the building has been transformed into the showroom. “Now, when they enter, customers see our new Simmons Beautyrest Gallery, which is one of the largest in the country on one side, and photos of Knoxville dating back to the 1800s on the other,” Preston says. “My grandfather was a doctor who delivered a lot of babies up in the mountains, and the pictures speak to our family’s long history here, as well as the history of Knoxville.”



Directly ahead, a photographic mural indicative of the Smokey Mountains stretches 30 feet high, a fitting backdrop for the Natural Elements department, featuring reclaimed wood furniture. “The mountain shot is just unreal,” Preston says. “If you love nature, as I do, it just takes your breath away.”

To the left is the England Gallery. “It’s really important to us to try and do business with companies that are local, and England is just 40 miles away in Claiborne County,” the executive says. “We were the first people to show an England sofa back in the early ‘70s, when they showing one sofa at Hickory Furniture Market. We also do business with Jackson/Catnapper which is about 70 miles away. All of the companies in the renovated area have been with us a long time, and we wanted to reward them for their loyalty and support by placing them upfront.”

--Made in America--

To the right of England is the Brown Squirrel Lodge, a cabin-like presentation reflecting the store’s location in the foothills of the Smokies. The Made in America Gallery is next, featuring Vaughan-Bassett Furniture. “It’s a powerful space featuring six-foot-high images of people at work in the Vaughan-Bassett factory back in the day, along with old pictures of John Bassett and his sons around the perimeter,” Preston explains. “Bassett himself was on hand during the Grand Opening Celebration to meet customers and sign copies of his best-selling book, Factory Man. Proceeds from book sales were donated to the Wounded Veterans Project.







“Customers are just amazed by the space, and the pictures really drive home the point that the furniture is American made,” Preston says. “It’s a no-brainer for us to present 13 collections of Vaughan-Bassett, available in five different finishes, because we don’t have to carry any inventory and the turns we get are just phenomenal. And from a storytelling standpoint, their history of being a family-run business is right in line with our own.”

Other departments of note include the Urban Lifestyle area, Brown Squirrel’s twist on loft living. “It’s a bit more sophisticated and modern, with huge mural of the Knoxville skyline as the backdrop.” The “cool” leather department, meanwhile, is focused on genuine leather from Simon Lee and Futura. “We don’t do leather match, or any of that fake stuff,” he comments.

“Everyone always asks about the age of our customer, and I tell them that our market is really unique,” Preston says. “The mountains and the Tennessee River and the lakes attract a large retiree community at the one end, and we have the University of Tennessee at the other, with everybody in between, including thousands of highly intelligent people focused on national security in Oak Ridge. It’s a very diverse market and we wanted to create something that would appeal to all of those demographics.”

--That’s Music to Our Ears--

As such, the store features three music zones and the tunes begin the minute customers get out of their cars in the parking lot. “We have speakers out there and music is very up-to-date and happy, and gets people in a good mood as they are walking into the store,” he says. “Inside, we’ve programmed the music to the age of the people that come through the doors at certain times of the day. Baby Boomers tend to shop after lunch, so we play Sinatra and Big Band, and later on when the mothers have a few minutes to browse before picking up their kids from school, it changes to Nora Jones. At night, the music is a little more urban and upbeat, and it’s always soft and soothing in the bedding department. The music makes a huge difference in the atmosphere.”

About Connie Post: Retail design strategist, trend expert, author and idea merchant Connie Post, chief executive of Connie Post International, understands what excites consumers and makes cash registers ring. As the standard bearer of visual marketing in the home furnishings industry for nearly three decades, she is responsible for the look of more than 18 million square feet of retail and wholesale space around the globe. An in-demand speaker and columnist, Post is regularly sought for her expert commentary, and the empowering message she brings to consumers everywhere: “A Beautiful Room Will Change Your Life.” For more information, or to contact Connie, please visit www.conniepost.com.