Anticipating demand, retailer LaDiff enters youth
By Jeff Linville -- Kids Today, 7/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
In the historic Virginia city of Richmond, a local furniture retailer is part of a revitalization of the downtown area.
Andy Thornton opened LaDifférence in 1980. The single-store retailer has about 45,000 square feet of showroom space in a 110,000-square-foot flagship destination store in downtown Richmond, with room to expand. Warehousing both onsite and offsite totals about 38,000 square feet.
This spring LaDiff added a 3,000-square-foot youth gallery, a change in strategy that comes as new opportunities arise in the surrounding area.
Virginia Commonwealth University has expanded its campus locations downtown. In June, Hilton opened a new 230-room hotel just 1.2 miles from the retailer. The Doubletree Hotel is the result of a $9 million renovation of an old Radisson hotel. The hotel manager noted the hotel's proximity to VCU and the downtown shopping district that includes LaDifférence.
While the hotel could bring some traffic to the store, the owners are much more excited about some new housing projects in the area, said Sarah Paxton. She joined the business in 1991 as a partner, and over time she and Andy developed a deeper partnership when they were married in December 1995.
The Vistas on the James condominium project, directly across the street from the store, is almost finished. The 18-story complex has 168 units that will open later this summer. This goes hand-in-hand with the Riverside on the James project that was completed within the past two years, bringing another 122 condo units to the area. A few miles away, Rockett's Landing will add four condo projects and 234 units, all of which are now available or will become available later this year.
LaDiff sees this as 500 chances to help new owners furnish their dwellings, both adult and child rooms.
The new LaDiff Kid gallery features many manufacturers, with the majority coming from Flexa, A.P. Inds., Offi, Copeland Furniture and Danish and Swedish resources that offer hip and contemporary looks.
Flexa has the most space, which is natural since its distribution center in Suffolk, Va., is only about 80 miles away. Paxton said the manufacturer participated in the March launch and has supported advertising efforts for LaDiff Kid.
"I have always wanted a kids' section in the store," she said, "because I knew there were people who did not want white French Provincial with gold trim in their daughters' rooms or antique oak beds in their sons' rooms.
"More modern designs are great for kids' spaces because of their simplicity, functionality and color. We try to offer items that can grow with a child from age 3 to at least 13 if not beyond."
She continued, "Our goal was to provide a resource for people who were LaDiff customers to continue furnishing their kids' rooms in a LaDiff way. We look for the 3 S's of furnishing a kids' space — sleep, study and storage — and we add play so the child will enjoy it too."
The space is accessorized with modern baby and kid items like diaper bags from SkipHop, crib and bed linens from Dwell, Area and Pixel Modern and tents and toys from Habermaas.
To kick off the opening, the store created a T-shirt design that was placed on kid- and adult-sized T-shirts and on onesies for the youngest customers.
"For prizes, Flexa gave away a bunk bed and we gave away an iPod Nano," she said.
The outlines of a growing child and an expectant mother welcome families to the 3,000-square-foot youth gallery inside LaDifférence.
Signs and colored dots along the floor direct children upstairs to the LaDiff Kid gallery in the retailer's Richmond, Va., store.
The canopy and other youth and infant furnishings are part of a new direction the retailer is taking as the downtown area grows.
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