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Feature
Decor for kids floods the retail marketplace
by Rich Timlen
Parents searching for tasteful, well-made
furniture for their children no longer have to rely on catalogs and websites. In
the past couple years, the retail market has been flooded with fashionable home
furnishings stores for youngsters. Now, that flood is expected to turn into a
regular Noah’s Ark of decor for kids, with retailers like Pottery Barn Kids,
Cargokids, BombayKIDS, The Land of Nod, La-Z-Boy Youth Collection and Ethan
Allen Kids opening nationwide.
Pottery Barn Kids, which is owned by Williams-Sonoma, of San Francisco, CA
currently operates 44 stores in AL, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, IN, MA, MD, MI, MN,
MO, NC, NJ, NV, OH, PA, RI, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI and Canada. The company is
now planning to open 150 to 200 inline stores. Plans already are underway for
openings at the following locations: Scottsdale Fashion Square in Scottsdale,
AZ; Bay Street Shopping Center in Emeryville, CA; Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton,
CA; Merrick Park in Coral Gables, FL; Mall at Millenia in Orlando, FL; Oxmoor
Mall in Louisville, KY; St. Louis Galleria in St. Louis, MO; Roosevelt Field
Mall in Garden City, NY; Triangle Town Center in Raleigh, NC; University Village
in Seattle, WA and Bloor Street West in Toronto, Canada.
The first Pottery Barn Kids catalog was launched in January 1999. The favorable
response from consumers led to the opening of the company’s first retail stores
in September 2000. The success showed that parents are willing to spend more
money for higher-quality items, which can run from $199 for a nightstand to $349
for a dollhouse bookshelf to $1,399 for a Catalina bunk bed. The stores are
designed with light wood floors and a scattering of rocking horses, giant
stuffed animals, colorful beds and a number of smaller items for kids to play
with. The stores also have a station for nursing moms, plus his-and-hers
changing rooms with changing tables. In addition to Pottery Barn, the company is
affiliated with Williams-Sonoma, Hold Everything and Chambers. Typical Pottery
Barn Kids stores average between 5,000 sq.ft. and 7,000 sq.ft.
A competitor of Pottery Barn Kids is Cargokids, which is owned by Pier 1
Imports, of Fort Worth, TX. The company, which was founded in the early 1980s,
is a designer and retailer of children’s furniture and accessories, master
bedroom, study and storage furniture. The company currently operates 18 inline
stores, including nine locations in TX, five in VA, two in GA and one each in MD
and NC. Cargokids is planning to open 300 stores over the next decade, including
12 this fiscal year, with a focus on the Charlotte, NC market. Next year, it
will add another 20 stores, filling in existing markets and opening its first
stores in FL. A typical Cargokids store averages about 4,500 sq.ft. In January
2001, Cargokids was acquired by Pier 1 Imports from Tandycrafts.
BombayKIDS, owned by The Bombay Co., also of Fort Worth, TX, currently operates
only two stores, but is planning to open 130 stores in a nationwide rollout by
2005. The company opened its first BombayKIDS store this Spring in Dallas, TX.
In 2003, The Bombay Co. hopes to open 25 to 30 of its children’s stores. The
company will focus on penetrating existing markets at inline locations before
testing new areas. BombayKIDS was launched as a catalog last September and also
operates a website.
Not to be outdone, Land of Nod, half of which is owned by Crate & Barrel, is
planning to enter the retail market with one opening this year and two next year
with inline locations at University Village in Seattle, WA and in Chicago, IL.
The company began as an upscale children’s furnishings catalog.
With the kids’ market already outpacing the overall furniture industry (youth
bedroom furniture sales jumped nearly 12% from 1999-2001, almost double the
increase in total furniture sales), stores like La-Z-Boy and Ethan Allen made
sure not to miss the baby boat.
Lea Inds. is marketing its kids furniture as the La-Z-Boy Youth Collection.
While no stores are planned as of now, the company said that about 135 dealers
have dedicated gallery spaces to the collection. The galleries will typically
occupy spaces of 1,150 sq.ft. Ethan Allen recently announced it is coming out
with Ethan Allen Kids and Ethan Allen Baby. These new products will be available
to consumers during Spring 2003. However, no stores are currently in the works.
For more information regarding Pottery Barn Kids, contact Sharon L. McCollam,
Williams-Sonoma, Inc., 3250 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94109;
415-421-7900; Web site: www.potterybarnkids.com. For more information regarding
Cargokids, contact Cary Turner, Pier 1 Imports, Inc., 300 Commerce Street, Suite
600, Fort Worth, TX 76102; 817-252-8400; Web sites: www.cargokids.com or
www.pier1.com. For more information regarding BombayKIDS, contact William M.
Matsko, The Bombay Co., PO Box 161009, Fort Worth, TX 76161-9967; 800-829-7789;
Web site: www.bombaykids.com. For more information regarding Land of Nod,
contact Scott Eirinberg, The Land of Nod, PO Box 1404, Wheeling, IL 60090;
800-933-9904, Fax 847-459-9950; Web site: www.landofnod.com. For more
information regarding La-Z-Boy Youth Collection, contact Mark Stegeman,
La-Z-Boy, Inc., 1284 North Telegraph Road, Monroe, MI 48162-3390; 734-242-1444.
For more information regarding Ethan Allen Kids, contact Kelly Maicon, Ethan
Allen, Inc., Ethan Allen Drive, Danbury, CT 06811; 203-743-8496, Fax
203-730-9016; Web site: www.ethanallen.com.
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