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| The iconic Eames chair and ottoman, a classic offering from Design Within Reach |
Popular modern furniture retailer on the move from Buckhead to West Midtown.
Stamford, Connecticut-based Design Within Reach (DWR) will vacate their current two-story home on Peachtree Road near Peachtree Battle for a new, nearly 14,000 square foot store in Westside Urban Market. The property, situated at the corner of Howell Mill and Huff Roads, will be built on land previously home to Osteria del Figo. (Figo closed here in 2013, and later relocated to a space on nearby Marietta Street)
The new store, described as a "giant glass cube," will likely be similar to the new DWR store that opened late last year in Scottsdale, Arizona. The new store at Scottsdale Quarter, also a relocation, measures more than 15,000 square feet, or almost double the size of the Old Town Scottsdale store it replaced.
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| The new Design Within Reach in Scottsdale, Arizona |
The new west midtown Design Within Reach will be about three times the size of the current Buckhead showroom, and will cost about $3 million to construct, according to permits on file with the City of Atlanta. Construction began this week and is expected to take 10-12 months to complete.
DWR is benefiting from a renewed interest in design and quality due at least in part to the popularity of the AMC series Mad Men. The series featured mid-century furniture and decor items which can be found reproduced at DWR today.
Among my favorite offerings from the retailer are:
Platner Dining Table (designed by Warren Platner for Knoll) $3,572 - $5,715.
Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman (designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller) $4859
Barcelona Chair (designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, produced by Knoll) $5429
Design Within Reach, originally launched in 1999, was purchased in 2014 by one of its largest suppliers, Herman Miller.
The site of the current Buckhead store, which was itself relocated from East Paces Ferry Road, is being targeted for redevelopment. The DWR property, a gas station in the early 90s, was later completely rebuilt as "The Loop Pizza Grill" in the early 2000s, before becoming the furniture retailer in the mid 2000s. This past November, and in a follow up piece last week, my friends at BuckheadView detailed the redevelopment plans that also include the neighboring Burger King and current Peachtree Battle Antiques & Interiors (remembered by many as Smith & Hawken, and before that, the beloved Oxford Too). Peachtree Battle Shopping Center owner Branch Properties is proposing a 15 story residential tower that would include 251 units and 15,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space at street level on the combined nearly two acre parcel.
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| A rendering of the residential building that would replace the current DWR and other businesses |
When it opens, likely next year, DWR will join Room & Board and the Knoll showroom in Westside Urban Market, and others like Switch Modern and Marty Mason Collected Home, in the area.
Are you a fan of Design Within Reach? Do you feel that their prices are out of reach? Are you against the Peachtree Battle redevelopment planned for their current location?
Please share your thoughts below.
3 comments:
"Do you feel that their prices are out of reach?"
YES
I've like some of their furniture for many years but certainly not willing to pay the prices. Probably makes me outside of their target market. I do enjoy perusing their stores to look at inventory and this new location will be interesting. You have the more affordable and down the fairway designs of Room and Board right next to it.
Not sure it makes a lot of sense in this area of Atlanta. Maybe in the former CB2 space for the expensive condo dwellers as I suspect that's more of their market.
Agree, it will be interesting to see if they do well over in "west" midtown with the slightly lower median income than is found closer to Peachtree.
FYI, the old Oxford Too building next to the Burger King was originally, ironically, a commercial print binding company, the name of which I forget.
Also, the Burger King site is practically historic in its own right, having been a BK since at least the late 60's and before that a Miss Georgia Dairy, a local ice cream parlor chain which probably opened at that site in the middle 50's. Over half a century of fun and fast food!
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