showroom
Countdown To Stonehurst: A Fine Furniture Showroom and More
It's been a long time coming and we've tried to be quiet about it… for worry about everything that can go wrong in a real estate transaction.
But we're now in the final countdown– just 3 more days until we close on the purchase of Stonehurst, an historic circa 1800 farmhouse and former ski area located just up the road in Vernon, Vermont.
Stonehurst will be our new showroom, office space and nature center. It's a traditional Vermont style farmhouse that sits on 109 acres of forest and meadow, overlooking the Connecticut River. Not your typical furniture store!
We're excited that we'll finally be able to show customers a wide selection of all the custom and made to order furniture our Vermont craftspeople have to offer. Even more exciting for me personally is the idea of conserving the property and providing eco-conscious customers a chance to see and experience the land where their furniture comes from.
Check in after we settle on Stonehurst this Thursday for more details on our plans to make it a destination shopping experience.
A Vermont Furniture Showroom and Cafe: Co-located at Skyline?
Part of our feasibility study to see if the Skyline property on Vermont's Hogback Mountain would work for Vermont Woods Studios is anaylzing the possibility of co-locating a cafe or wine bar with the furniture showroom. It's not a real natural combination, is it (furniture and food)?
But two factors keep pointing to the pairing of these functions at Skyline:
- The Skyline location, on top of Hogback Mountain, with it's 100 mile view of the Green Mountain Forest offers what I've been looking for to raise awareness about where your wood furniture comes from. After all, you can buy imported wood furniture anywhere but it's probably going to be made from illegally harvested trees, clear-cut from the world's rapidly disappearing tropical rainforests. Our customers are interested in acquiring heirloom quality, Vermont-made furniture that's crafted from natural, solid, wood that's been sustainably harvested from beautiful, well-managed American forests (more about green, environmental concerns here).
- The other factor is that: How could you operate ANYTHING at Skyline without inviting people to come up and enjoy the view? It would be kinda like that commercial for Ally bank where the guy asks 2 little girls if they'd like a pony. He shows a real pony to one of the girls but only gives her a little figurine instead. The announcer says something like: "even kids know it's wrong to hold out on somebody." That's how I'd feel having a business at Skyline that didn't offer people a place to relax and enjoy the view with a cup of tea or a glass of wine.
So now we're trying to figure out how to strategically pair a Vermont-made furniture showroom with a cafe or wine bar. Allocating space is the conundrum of the day. 60% furniture — 40% cafe? Additional seasonal seating outside? I guess the answers will reveal themselves as we do our research.
Got ideas? Suggestions? Interested in running an upscale cafe at Skyline? Contact us on Facebook and jump into the conversation. We'll be looking for local help as we navigate through the feasibility study and (hopefully) beyond.
GRAND OPENING Festivities
As many of you have already seen, our beautiful new American made furniture showroom is now open for business. We are excited to invite residents of Windham County and beyond to help us celebrate our GRAND OPENING! Grand opening festivities are scheduled February 1 and 2 (noon to 4 p.m.) at 407 Pond Road, in Vernon Vermont. Highlights include:
• Drawings for free furniture, gift cards and accessories.
• Discounts on furniture specials and Refreshments
We're thrilled to be able to offer this new retail outlet which carries a full line of affordable, handcrafted, Vermont-made furniture. Showroom hours are Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Stop by and browse! For more information, please call Susan at 802-254-0011.
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