Workspace Anyplace: focused selection, fast service

Discount Store News, May 5, 1997 by Mike Troy

Office superstore retailers owe their growth and success to the flourishing home office market, which today includes an estimated 30 million households. For these people, it was a blessing when category killers such as Staples, Office Depot and OfficeMax arrived on the retail scene a decade ago with their low-cost, one-stop-shop formula.

These retailers' combined annual sales of $13 billion testify to their popularity. But being all things to the diverse home office market is a difficult prospect, especially when many people who work at home have the freedom and discretionary income to create a home work environment that is functional, attractive and reflective of their personality.

Enter Workspace Anyplace. This Charlotte, N.C.-based two-store operation is part of a new breed of retailer known as a "narrow niche retailer" or "niche killer." It's one of retailing's newest buzzwords, and it is an appropriate description for Workspace Anyplace, which has a narrow market focus and broad product selection that allow it to compete successfully with much larger office furniture stores.

The Workspace Anyplace strategy is to:

* Offer a broad selection of office furniture. Roughly 175 desks, chairs and storage components are kept in stock, and many of the models can be special ordered with different finishes and fabrics.

* Provide home office design assistance. Workspace Anyplace's certified designers use a computer program to show potential customers a three-dimensional view of what their workspace will look like with various pieces of furniture.

* Deliver fast service. About 50% of sales come from in-stock items, which are delivered and set up within three days. Custom orders take longer, but turn-around times have been shortened because it is one of the criteria the company uses when selecting vendors.

* Create a shopping environment that lets customers see what a home office can look like a creating mini offices within the stores.

* Ensure delivery and setup are handled professionally. A full-time Workspace Anyplace staff is trained in the proper assembly procedures required of the retailer's diverse furniture offerings.

It's a formula proving to be popular with customers. Word of mouth has been sufficiently positive about Workspace Anyplace to such a degree that the retailer does minimal advertising.

"We do a little bit of print, and we have some consistent advertising on one of the talk stations, but I would say about 50% of our business comes from word of mouth," said Jane Melvin, manager of the 9,000-sq.-ft. Charlotte, N.C., store that opened in February 1996. The second store opened in July 1996 in Jacksonville, Fla. "In the markets where our stores are located, if there is something new and unique in town and people enjoy their experience, you can be sure others will hear about it through word of mouth."

What they are hearing about is a freestanding store that's upscale in appearance and mid-range in its pricing. The unit in Charlotte occupies an old U.S. Post Office building in a historic area of town referred to by locals as Dilworth. Inside the store, tan carpeting and off-write walls don't distract from the furniture, which is displayed in groupings to simulate what a home office is capable of looking like.

"Typically, when you go to buy office furniture in a retail atmosphere, you find a lot of furniture squeezed into the space. What we have done is keep the floor very clean so customers can move around and get an idea of what the furniture would look like in their home," Melvin said.

The store makes use of columns, archways, plants and framed artwork to produce a comfortable feeling more akin to that found in a home rather than a furniture store. Setting it all off is an abundance of natural light that filters in through an atrium and the store front.

It's a pleasant atmosphere for customers to discuss their workspace requirements with the store's designer.

"One of our jobs is to ask the right questions of our customers," Melvin said. "We don't want customers to get a product that isn't right for their home."

Typically, there are space considerations in the home. Designing an office for a 12-ft. by 15-ft. bedroom with a closet and exterior window requires careful planning, according to Melvin.

"The designers use a software package called Giza that allows them to help customers efficiently use the space they have available," Melvin said.

For example, various desks and other furniture from different vendors are loaded into the software program so that a customer can get a three-dimensional view of what any of them look like when placed against different walls in the same room. Other pieces of furniture can also be incorporated to see what they would look like.

If customers don't like the color of a particular desk or the fabric on a chair, Workspace Anyplace keeps in stock its most popular colors and fabrics. About 50% of sales are from merchandise that is in stock. The other half comes from custom orders. Most models of desks and chairs are available in a variety of finishes and fabrics.