Kitchen & Bath Business - October 2020 - 29

we operate by appointment only, with one client scheduled at a time. July
took a nose-dive in clients because of the COVID resurgence, but we have
picked back up again. Right now, our clients want a face-to-face presence
and not virtual.They need to physically see the products and get the real feel.
Showrooms are going to still be important because you are asking someone
to make a large investment, and virtual presentations just do not have the
same WOW as being in a showroom. If I put myself in the same position, I
would never make a large purchase by means of a virtual presentation.

Doreen Morris and Nadya Rutman, ARTISAN HOME DESIGNS,
NORWOOD, MASS.

We have one location, and during the shutdown, we invested in some new
displays and products since we had time to take a more in-depth look at what
we had been considering. We also moved one step closer to branding our
own line of cabinets through a small manufacturer and will feature a display
in our showroom once those have been created.
As for the future, we will roll with the punches. We are investing in some
smaller project components and expanding our wallpaper library. We will
expand and hire a new marketing group and a college student to improve our
social media platforms. We are also considering consulting with a website
designer about expanding our online offerings, and we had already been offering free digital advice.

Bill Feinberg, ALLIED KITCHEN & BATH, FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.

We are very fortunate that we did not have to completely shut down. As
licensed general contractors, we are considered an essential business and have
been able to keep our team up and running throughout this entire pandemic.
We closed our showroom to the public for the first several weeks, which was
challenging since the showroom is the key to our success and sets us apart
from our competition, but we continued to do work on any projects we were
permitted to.
NEGATIVES AND POSITIVES

Several of our projects literally had to sit torn apart, with clients unable to
use their kitchen or bathroom. One project in particular was for an elderly
gentleman just recovering from cancer, who was worried about being compromised. Fortunately, our team was able to go in, partition everything off,
build temporary walls and keep the area safe. We were even able to set up a
temporary kitchen within the laundry room.
Our showroom is busier than ever, with calls coming in on a consistent basis,
as much now as even before the pandemic. Our goal with every lead is to get
them to come into our showroom, and we set them up for a free consultation
and tour with one of our designers. This is no different than what we have
done in the past, as we want to make sure our designers are only working on
qualified leads and not spinning their wheels running on estimates.
PIVOTING TODAY AND TOMORROW

We are offering virtual tours of our showroom, and we can even make detailed
presentations for a project - but only after we are retained. We also set up
an E-showroom as part of our main website, which allows the client to research and get approximate pricing on any plumbing or decorative hardware
item they may be looking for. We were able to contract with Bravo Media
and MyplumbingShowroom.com, and they run the back-end site for our
retail plumbing and decorative hardware showroom. It's been an amazing tool
for us to allow the homeowner to shop from their home, and this is driving
traffic to the showroom as well.
As always, I still believe the brick-and-mortar showroom is vital for our
industry. And although people may be shopping more online, I believe the

ABOVE A kitchen display at the

Boone Creek Cabinetry &
Design showroom in McHenry,
Ill.

bigger purchases - especially for kitchens, bathrooms and whole-house remodeling projects - are
made in person at retail showrooms. People still
want to be able to see, touch and feel the product
before making a large purchase, and it's the showroom staff that will keep the sales coming to us and
allow manufacturers to show off their products.

Laura Eagan, CKD, CLIPP,

ESTRELLA CABINETRY AND DESIGN CENTER,
GOODYEAR, ARIZ.

My showroom is a huge selling tool for me, and
in my area it's key since I am branded higher
end. We have been deemed essential during this
pandemic because we are technically remodelers.
Some people were not comfortable with us coming into their home, which meant we needed to
reschedule those installations. Fitting projects into
the timelines and cash flow were challenges, but
we made it work.
NEGATIVES AND POSITIVES

We are not seeing as many visitors as we used to,
and this has changed my business in a great way.
We are in a high-end retail center and do get foot
traffic, but the walk-ins disappeared, which made
me think differently about the business. We saw
the quality of our projects increase because we had
time to triple-check details, we had time to call old
clients, we had time to devote to social media, and
we had time to do the things we tend to push off.
PIVOTING TODAY AND TOMORROW

My lease is up this fall, and I decided to look for a
larger space to grow the business. My new location
is well over half the rent I am currently paying, and
it's twice the size. We have always offered virtual
meetings because often our clients live in other
regions, so it becomes an easy way to communicate. I still feel that the client wants the physical
touch of the materials. They want to see samples
and how they will work in their home.
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Kitchen & Bath Business - October 2020

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