Get the essentials to grow a sustainable business at our member-only event.
After more than a year of adapting to pandemic-induced lifestyle changes, consumers are more accustomed to making major furniture, design, and even home purchases online. Though lockdowns offered a major boost to brands ready to take advantage of COVID-induced shifts, at least one major player in bedding is betting that our desire for IRL retail isn’t going away anytime soon.
Savoir Beds, the U.K.-based maker of luxury mattresses handcrafted using a palette of natural materials, is adding a new showroom to its portfolio, which now includes 15 locations across 12 cities. Situated in London's Mayfair district at Berkeley Square, home to high-end boutiques, art galleries, and famed Savile Row, Savoir’s new 2,000-square-foot flagship location aims to create a comfortable space for customers to carefully consider one of life’s more significant purchases. Because while others in the broader furniture space may be paring down their real estate footprints, Savoir still believes there’s no substitute for a well-orchestrated retail experience when it comes to making big bed decisions.
“You spend eight hours a night in [a bed], and you want to know what it feels like,” Savoir managing director Alistair Hughes tells AD PRO. “It’s about creating that environment where the client wants to stay there and wants to take the time and feel relaxed so they can pick out what is an incredibly important purchase.”
Fittingly, in a neighborhood that attracts art collectors and fashionable sets, Savoir’s new Mayfair space elevates beds into works of art. Envisioned by Hannah Carter Owers, former Universal Design Studio creative director, the showroom juxtaposes richly tactile surroundings—defined by warmly tinted concrete floors and plaster-paint walls—with soft, plush bedding, which customers can enjoy in relative privacy thanks to screened dividers and opaque glass. Alongside handmade furniture by Scottish brand Faolchú and visual elements that hint at Savoir’s legacy and craftsmanship without an overt sales push, the showroom functions as an exhibition hall with objets d’art meant to lull you to sleep.
Hughes, who alternatively refers to the space as a spa and an art gallery, says the partnership between Savoir and Hannah Carter Owers is a testament to how a sense of trust between brand and designer can elevate an interior beyond what may have been envisioned by a project’s brief.
“You need to be stretched and pulled in a direction you might not necessarily have gone,” he says, specifically citing the surprising use of a poured concrete floor as an embodiment of the ethos. “Once you’ve got a few touch points that connect you, you feel happier to let a designer go a little bit because you’re coming from the same place.”
Though the idea of a splashy retail space may seem like a dubious investment in the modern retail context, Hughes believes demand for a quality showroom experience will remain even as customers become savvier online shoppers. (Even Savoir witnessed “really strong growth” in its online sales amid the pandemic, shares Hughes.)
“I believe there’s a future for physical retail, because when it’s done well, there’s nothing better. It’s very difficult to give someone a glass of champagne online,” Hughes says. Yet, he notes, e-commerce experiences are raising brick-and-mortar expectations: “People are probably now less forgiving of bad retail because they’ve experienced some great retail online.”
If Savoir’s Mayfair location is any indication, showrooms—especially in the bedding space—can serve a purpose for a long time to come. Though there may be one potential obstacle: A space that looks this special may not encourage prospective bed buyers to shut their eyes.
