Susan Dickenson

Oneida's new concept store; Wal-Mart adds new Home brands; OneCoast's web catalog
October 24, 2007

Dawsonville, GA – Oct. 24, 2007 – Oneida Ltd. announced today the Nov. 1st opening of its new Dawsonville Mall outlet store, the largest collection of Oneida dinnerware, flatware and tabletop accessories anywhere in the world. As part of the grand opening celebration, Oneida is giving away $10,000 worth of tableware and kitchen accessories to lucky winners on select days in November. Oneida will also have tableware experts on the floor as consultants for customers who need design advice. The Dawsonville store builds on the continued evolution of the Oneida brand over the last two years with a reinvigoration of its website and online sales and a re-energized focus on retail locations and customer partnerships. The Dawsonville outlet is the first Oneida store designed by JGA Design, a Detroit-based retail design and architectural firm, which has worked with such brands as Coca-Cola, Jaguar and Saks Department Store Group. The new store look will bring more merchandise off the shelves for consumers to see in use on tabletops and will turn traditional vertical flatware displays into an interactive, horizontal layout so shoppers can envision how the flatware will actually look in their home, among many other creative features.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart announced the addition of two new Home brands Wednesday (Oct. 24). Canopy, to launch in February 2008, will feature multi-category home essentials, and in fall 2008, Wal-Mart and Meredith Corp. will launch a new line of Better Homes and Gardens products.The Canopy brand will launch in stores nationwide with a select number of stores featuring an extended line. Walmart.com will have the complete in-store line in addition to products offered exclusively online. The Better Homes and Gardens line will feature colors, patterns and designs focused on traditional style and will include bedding and throws, bath accessories, dinnerware, kitchen textiles and decorative pillows. “This represents the largest extension of products bearing the Better Homes and Gardens brand in its 85-year history,” said Meredith President and CEO Stephen M. Lacy. “We’re excited to be partnering with Wal-Mart in bringing the Better Homes and Gardens style into the homes of millions of American shoppers.” In addition, Wal-Mart will expand its new Home layout in 2008, focusing on new stores and remodels.  The new layout features a “room solutions” orientation, navigational signage, lower-profile fixtures and “power walls” for power categories like towels. 

Pittsburgh, Pa. – OneCoast has partnered with OverCoffee Productions to offer its Catalog Library as an online resource of product descriptions and images accessible by authorized vendors and retailers. OneCoast is actively working with all of its vendors to update their lines within the Catalog Library. “Our retail customers are savvy businesspeople who want to have as much information about products as possible in order to make informed buying decisions,” said Jeremy Hirsch, OneCoast’s vp of marketing. “Our website, visited by hundreds of buyers per day, will deliver more product line information and that, in the end, will allow us to offer the best experience possible to our customers.”

Charlotte, N.C. -- Home Depot opens its second Design Center store this month (October) in Charlotte, with more home décor in place of lumber and building materials. The showroom features furniture and home accessories from Home Depot’s catalog acquisition, Home Decorators Collection, and expanded selections in garden accessories, permanent botanicals and home storage. The retailer’s first Design Center debuted earlier this month in Concord, California.

Madison, Wis. -- The Guild, Inc., is launching The Artful Home Show in New York City’s Puck Building, Nov. 16-18. For the first time since its founding as an e-commerce source for artist-made home decor, the company will present the home accessories, furniture and jewelry of 300 of its most popular artists in a public forum. Customers will have an opportunity to meet the artists and purchase the work on site and through web kiosks. A complete schedule of the weekend events is available at www.artfulhomeshow.com/events.

Lombard, Ill. — Celebrity interior designer Doug Wilson is participating in October's promotion at Chicago’s The RoomPlace at Harlem Furniture, The $25,000 Decorating Dollars Sweepstakes. Wilson, host of TLC’s Trading Spaces, Moving Up and America’s Ugliest, and a member of Home Accents Today’s designer panel, will make an in-store appearance Nov. 10 from 1-2 pm. Shoppers are invited to register for a chance to win one of three grand prizes, a $5,000 shopping spree and personal decorating consultation with the designer. Ten additional winners will receive $1,000 in merchandise. No purchase is necessary and the public may register through Nov. 5 at www.theroomplace.com or any one of 19 store locations.

Irving, Tx. -- Michaels Stores Inc. announced it is closing three of its four Star Decorators' Wholesale locations and all of its Recollections concept stores (scrapbooking) and plans to focus on its core retail chains, Michaels and Aaron Brothers. The company owns and operates 955 Michaels stores in the U.S. and Canada, and 168 Aaron Brothers stores.

Posted by Susan Dickenson on October 24, 2007 | Comments (0)