B&B Italia Opens Store to the Public
Last Thursday, Marianne Rohrlich wrote a piece for the The New York Times about B&B Italia opening a store in Soho for the public. You can read the article here.
B&B Italia, the contemporary furnishings company, is joining the crush of design retailers in SoHo with a new store aimed entirely at the public. Unlike the Midtown showroom, primarily for designers, the downtown store will present furniture in vignettes, to suggest how it might look at home. The two-floor, 5,500-square-foot space, designed by Michael Gabellini, left, and Kimberly Sheppard of Gabellini Sheppard Associates, is not divided by interior walls — a nod to the area’s tradition of loft living.
So, here’s the question. Is this good or bad for design professionals? Is it good for B&B Italia? First, let’s look at exclusivity. It’s important. Anything that is hard to get seems better and worth more than things that are easy to find. Think about Pottery Barn. It’s not bad stuff, but it’s everywhere. No one wants to have the same dining room table as everyone else. Opening shops direct to the public kills exclusivity. Clients are willing to pay more for something if they know no one else has the same thing. And while it may seem strange to those of us who love a bargain, there are actually people who love the idea that they paid top dollar for something few others will have.
Another issue is how it will affect our business as designers. Will it help or hurt? On one hand, anyone (in Soho) can pop into B&B and buy a sofa. They certainly don’t need to hire a designer. But on the other, that customer is paying full price, while I get a net price. So, since almost all designers with half a brain now charge an hourly fee, I can sell that same sofa at a lower price. And chances are, I’ll be asked to help them figure out where to put it, too.
What do you think?
