Profiting from propitious partnerships

Take a look at retailer Lynni Megginson's column on page 102 and you'll see why she's a Home Accents Today Retail Star as well as a member of our magazine's Retail Advisory Board.

Ever mindful of a good marketing opportunity, Lynni, owner of L&M Designs of Gaithersburg, Md., discusses the value of building and forging business partnerships with people and companies outside your area of expertise. Lynni recently partnered with two such experts — in audio-visual installation and outdoor lighting — to expand and strengthen her design capabilities, product mix and customer base by offering products and services above and beyond her normal comfort zone.

Identifying cross-promotional opportunities like these require a bit of thinking outside the box, as evidenced by some of the unique partnerships that we've seen come to life this year.

Our art director, Wes Kennedy, wrote about one such affiliation on his blog last month, a venture between Los Angeles-based accessories design store, Fitzsu Society, and luxury real estate firm, Deasy/Penner & Partners to bring a real estate/lifestyle shopping experience to the heart of Palm Springs' Design District. The new business, Deasy/Penner & Partners + Fitzsu Society: Homes + Accessories, is a combination retail store and office space that showcases Fitzsu's expansive collection of home accessories alongside the real estate firm's available property listings.

The collaboration between the owners, who have known each other and maintained a working relationship for several years, offers new home buyers of Deasy/Penner's mid-century properties the convenience of purchasing furnishings and signing their closing papers in the same location.

Other new partnership ventures with promising potential include Minneapolis retailer Nordic Home's August reinvention of itself as Nordic Home Interiors, a new showroom of custom furniture and rugs. The store shares showroom space and cross-promotes with a niche partner, Troll Log Homes, which builds Scandinavian-design homes made of Baltic pine.

In Philadelphia, a consolidation of two stores, Foster's Gourmet Cookware and Foster's Urban Homeware, resulted in Foster's Homeware, an 11,000-sq.-ft. showroom of contemporary products for the modern city dweller. Within its new walls, Foster's partnered with NYLoft of Philadelphia and Miele appliances to create Apartment 399, a loft-like furniture studio and event space complete with a state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen in which cooking and entertaining classes are held.

The greening of the retail landscape has sprouted partnerships designed to help educate customers and promote eco-friendly living. Minneapolis-St. Paul's Twin Cities Green partnered with Do It Green Minnesota to establish an in-store resource center with publications, info on eco-services and free workshops. The retailer also announced plans to partner with High Tech Energy Solutions to provide samples of larger home improvement items such as home solar panels, countertops and pavers.

In North Carolina, Porto Home Furnishings and Accessories, a founding member of the Sustainable Furniture Council, announced a partnership with furniture manufacturer South Cone to create a learning space in its Chapel Hill store where customers and interior design clients can learn more about environmentally responsible home furnishings.

Baltimore-based Bluehouse, an independent retailer of environmentally friendly furniture and home accessories, joined forces with Luke Works, another Baltimore company, to offer eco-friendly bathroom cabinetry, countertops and mirrors made from sustainable materials.

This is only a handful of the many creative retail endeavors and success stories that have found their way to our inboxes this year.

After January's winter markets have wrapped, we'll start looking more closely at these and other candidates in preparation for the spring release of Home Accents Today's 2008 Retail Stars list. The annual feature pays tribute to 50 enterprising home accents retailers who are meeting the challenges of an increasingly competitive marketplace with innovative strategies and creative solutions.

Retailers, sales reps and customers are invited to submit nominations – it's as easy as sending an e-mail, with photos if you have them, to susan.dickenson@reedbusiness.com. In the meantime, I wish you peace and profits for the New Year.

To comment on this story, please write to me at susan.dickenson@reedbusiness.com or share your thoughts on my blog at homeaccentstoday.com.