Westco Home Furnishings Doubles Sales With New Prototype Store

Furniture World Magazine

Westco Home Furnishings in Joplin, Missouri announced that their new flagship store is setting a new standard for the company chain and has doubled sales for that location. The store was designed by the Connie Post design team. According to Rudy Schultz, president of Westco Home Furnishings chain, “Connie Post used her expertise to analyze our store layout to maximize profitability, store exposure to the street and in-store traffic flow. This analysis created the blueprint for our new store design and layout. The result is a new prototype store that features our product lines in an easy-to-find, attractive and profitable layout.” The challenge, says Connie Post, chief executive of the Connie Post Companies, lay in “creating a new brand strategy for the Westco chain. Our goal was to create a memorable exterior that explained clearly what Westco carried within the store and also to express a ‘value statement’ that supported the marketing message of the company.” Dave Coll, creative director for The Connie Post Companies, says “the Westco project was put on a fast-track for completion and took only eight months from the time the contracts were signed to Westco Home Furnishings’ grand opening celebration. A low, boring unattractive façade some 113 feet long was broken up visually with a 42-foot-tall red brick tower that springs from the store’s center entrance. This was needed to balance the over sized exterior of the adjacent store in the stripe center and to create a visual presence for the street traffic some 300’ away. Four 14-foot-square lifestyle graphics that flank the brick entry exude shelter book chic.” Inside, a central Design Center gazebo can be seen from any point within the 20,500-square-foot store. Moveable Walls® from Precision Millworking, a division of the Connie Post Companies, helped to create a dynamic, flexible showroom with the ability to be moved easily on the floor for continual fresh new look. In describing the project, Schultz said, “We especially appreciated Connie’s comments concerning the need to give all of our locations a ‘facelift’ both inside and out on a five-to-seven year cycle. That was an aspect of our business that had not gotten proper attention in recent years and is something we are now budgeting for moving forward.” About The Connie Post Companies: Headquartered in Huntington, WV, The Connie Post Companies is home to the home furnishings leading retail store design firm. The Connie Post Companies is led by industry innovator Ms. Connie Post. The design consulting and project management firm works with retailers and manufacturers to create extraordinary selling spaces that are exciting, profitable and memorable. The award-winning firm’s Precision Millworking division produces custom walls, fixtures, signage and atmospherics for a wide range of projects. Visit The Connie Post Companies on the web at www.conniepost.com. Look for us in Vegas and Highpoint. For more information about this product contact Ms. Connie Post via email at DesignTeam@ConniePost.com.