Shopping as entertainment

Luana Murphy talks about talented friends, set changes and uses the word "evolve" to describe what's happening at her store, LG Gallery — Liberty Glenn, a Las Vegas home accents haven.

"I think my best business idea ever was to just continually evolve the store," Murphy said. "We are certainly not what we started out to be and we are not the store that we were five years ago. We completely change the store every 90 days and we change something every week. We're in a constant state of changing the set. And we change the merchandise all the time. Some things that we carried, we just don't carry anymore."

The evolution began soon after the store opened 16 years ago, offering the country home looks popular at the time. When Murphy's daughter was getting married, they began looking for a bridal gift registry and started thinking they could do better than what they found available. As a result, Murphy opened a second store featuring tabletop and accessories. She later combined the two stores into a larger site because running two locations proved difficult.

Show biz friends give pizzazz and flair to LG Gallery, which caters to locals and begins Christmas in August.

A friend who had designed sets for the entertainment industry came in to give Murphy's store a Hollywood appearance. Store employees, who have stayed for 10 years or more, learned from his visual merchandising talent and have carried it on after his death two years ago.

"Our store is shopping as entertainment — that's how we like to look at it," Murphy said. "We change the showroom floor often and we treat the store like a movie set. We're in an affluent area of Las Vegas. We have upscale, high-end customers. The wives of casino owners shop in our store. We do not have a tourist crowd."

Setting up holiday displays early in August is evidence of how Murphy and her employees understand and respond to their customers' desires. When the store's holiday merchandise displays were starting in September, customers were complaining. "They would say 'Neiman's has theirs up," Murphy recalled. So she took a chance on her customers being ready early for holiday shopping. "And they are ready," she said. "They are definitely ready for Halloween in August."

Female impersonator Frank Marino, well known in Las Vegas for his longtime role in La Cage, stars in LG Gallery's television commercials, which are broadcast during the fourth quarter of each year. "It's just too expensive to do it all year long," Murphy said. "And, of course, if I had to pay for all that talent I could never afford it, but he's a friend and he does it as a favor. It's spectacular and it definitely is working. He does all our commercials so we set up for the commercials in early August."

Another friend, who is talented at talking with customers and as a pianist, returns each holiday to perform on a 106-year-old Grand Steinway piano in the store during events that draw repeat customers, their children and grandchildren. Artist signings also attract customers throughout the year, but the store's biggest annual event is held each November to benefit the Nevada Ballet, Murphy said.

"Advertising is always my biggest challenge," she said. "I'm not an advertising executive; I'm not a pro at it. It's always a challenge. We're in the newspaper every week. My fourth quarter television advertising, because it's so flamboyant, gets lots of comments. We also do a newsletter, which my customers respond to very well. I try to do it after the major markets."

Shopping the New York Tabletop market plus other major home furnishings and accessories markets in Atlanta, High Point and Los Angeles keep her busy traveling. She shops at the Dallas market in January because of its holiday expo. She also added the Las Vegas market when it started a year ago.

Among her key vendors are tabletop and crystal sources such as Bernardaud, Daum, Waterford, Lenox, Reed & Barton, Vietri, Franz and Boch. For home accents, vendors include Arthur Court, Andrea by Sadek, Michael Aram, Chelsea House, Christopher Radko, Dransfield & Ross, Harris Marcus, Herend, Faberge, Mila Brown, Murray Feiss, Pacific Coast Lighting's Kathy Ireland Home, Parker Southern, The Uttermost Co. and Vintage Verandah. For wall art, Paragon, Andrew Cole and Picture Source are key vendors. For accent furniture, vendors include Best, Butler, Italian Art, Magnussen and Pulaski.

"I have the ability to go to market and buy things that I know will look good together but I do not have a lick of talent in putting it together," Murphy said. "My store manager and my assistant store manager are just a wizard at displays." So she relies on her stable, talented staff for their visual merchandising skills.

Murphy's daughter, Jackie Luizzi, lives in Texas now but stays connected with the store by designing and maintaining its Web site. "It drives business to the store and we get a lot of direct web business from all over the country," Murphy said. "On our Web site, we built it so we have a picture of our store, a picture of me and the staff. People like dealing with other people, rather than just a shopping cart. And my daughter answers all the e-mail personally. We get a lot of positive comments about the manner in which we handle our Web site."

When asked what was the best advice she had received and what she would advise fellow retailers, Murphy said the answer is one and the same. "It is: Give the customer a reason to come to your store every day."