Roman and Williams Guild Combines with a Restaurant to Sell Furnishings
Justin Lam — February 6, 2018 — Marketing
Roman and Williams Guild in New York is an innovative design emporium that also sports an amazing restaurant. Inspired by grand Paris cafés, Roman and Williams Guild bursts with creative brilliance as it serves as part showroom, part restaurant and part city reprieve. The showroom is filled with furnishings, lightning, accessories, furs, fabrics and other various pieces of design, all of which come directly from Roman and Williams or from collaborators of the design firm. The restaurant, known as La Mercerie Café, serves up French comfort food and is run by Chef Marie-Aude Rose. Serving classic dishes like beef tartare and buckwheat crêpes, La Mercerie Café is not simply an extension of the store, but an entity that is complemented by the store.
The cross between food and furniture was done in an attempt to create a fully engrossing experience. Buyers are encouraged to spend a lot of time in the space and are supposed to fully enjoy it. The restaurant also serves to show the practical use and application of the furnishings sold in the store, as all the items in the restaurant are also available for purchase. Instead of a simple showroom, Roman and Williams Guild has constructed and interactive experience that is built to totally envelop customers.
Image Credit: Patricia Chang, Roman and Williams Guild
The cross between food and furniture was done in an attempt to create a fully engrossing experience. Buyers are encouraged to spend a lot of time in the space and are supposed to fully enjoy it. The restaurant also serves to show the practical use and application of the furnishings sold in the store, as all the items in the restaurant are also available for purchase. Instead of a simple showroom, Roman and Williams Guild has constructed and interactive experience that is built to totally envelop customers.
Image Credit: Patricia Chang, Roman and Williams Guild
Trend Themes
1. Immersive Retail Experiences - The combination of a restaurant and a furniture store to create an immersive experience can be adopted by other retailers to engage customers in a unique way and showcase the interoperability of different products.
2. Blurring of Industry Lines - The crossover between the food and furniture industry signifies a potential for the blurring of industry lines, creating unique opportunities for businesses to capitalize on the trending fusion of interests.
3. Showroom-restaurant Hybrids - The development of showroom-restaurant hybrids presents an opportunity for businesses to create a memorable experience for their customers and provide a practical application for their products in a unique and creative way.
Industry Implications
1. Furniture Retail - Furniture retailers can adopt a showroom-restaurant hybrid model to create a fully engrossing experience, engage customers and showcase the interoperability of different home products in a practical way.
2. Food Service - The blurring of industry lines between food and furniture industries presents an opportunity for food service businesses to differentiate themselves and create innovative restaurant formats that can showcase furniture, homeware, or other retail products.
3. Interior Design - Interior design companies can follow the lead of Roman and Williams Guild and combine retail products such as furnishings with the immersive experience of a restaurant to create a unique selling point and attract repeat customers.
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