Jordan’s Furniture - New Haven, CT

New Haven, CT “Furniture is fashion!”  With that as the philosophy behind Jordan’s Furniture the question becomes how does that translate into store design?  When you think of fashion you think of clothes; the very latest styles you see on people passing by, or in the many storefronts you are exposed to, or the print ads, the email blasts you receive and the internet pop-ups you can’t avoid.  It’s more than mere exposure, it’s saturation.  Furniture, on the other hand is tucked away in houses, and generally overlooked until something wears out or breaks.  Furniture is contained in specialty stores that are not as visible, minimized in print media, and rarely sexy enough for an Internet pop-up.  Enter the Jordan’s strategy.  In order to get people excited about the fashion of furniture, they need to see it.  In order to see it, they need reasons to be exposed to it.  Those reasons would be entertainment and perhaps a dose of curiosity.

The challenge for BL Companies, Inc. was to translate the creative visions of Jordan’s CEO Eliot Tatelman and the Jordan’s team into bricks and mortar reality for the new Jordan’s Furniture store in New Haven. 

Over the years Tatelman has mastered the art of creating curiosity and entertainment as evidenced by the success of the Jordan’s stores.  For the New Haven store, the question became: how could the iconic New Haven Register newspaper building be repurposed to address these elements?  The challenge was first to rebrand the building, which over the years has become a part of the New Haven fabric for travelers as a benchmark along I-95.  In order to make sure it is no longer known as the New Haven Register building, it had to be treated as something new, and unique, and, immediately recognized as the Jordan’s building.  The demographics in the area are marginal since the adjacent shoreline means there are no customers to the south.  But I-95 carries nearly 200,000 cars per day past the building, which is immediately adjacent.  What would it take for those drivers to notice the building, raise their curiosity, and lure them off the road? 

The “wonder wall” was Tatelman’s solution to initiate that task.  A trapezoidal frame reaching a height of 67 feet, infilled with some sort of metal filigree, washed in light, and supporting the Jordan’s sign along with another sign that simply says “It.”  From a distance it is certainly noticeable, as it needs to be to attract the attention of drivers on a busy stretch of highway.  Once the visitor enters the parking area and approaches the entrance it becomes apparent that the metal filigree in the sign is actually made up of chairs, 330 of them in fact.  And so the adventure begins.  Once inside the visitor is exposed to the furniture, while finding their way to “It.”  An unusually large volume of space at the back of the building that once housed the towering printing press now contains “It,” the world’s largest indoor ropes course, complete with zip lines that traverse a fountain with water jets and laser lights choreographed to music.  Blaze Pizza where you can build your own pizza and fire it in three minutes and ScoopIt Ice Cream round out the entertainment experience and provide the attraction to encourage people to visit.  And, the visit provides the opportunity to be exposed to the fashion of furniture. 

In order to accomplish the transformation many hurdles were crossed including rezoning, remediation of contaminated soils, and hazardous building materials including PCBs. During the design process FEMA also changed its flood mapping, raising the flood elevation by 12”, which cut through a portion of the building and required special design consideration.      

With those hurdles crossed, the store and “It” is in full operation and have proven successful in attracting traffic from the highway.  In short order, this has become a destination; a furniture store that kids are asking their parents to visit.  And while the kids – and their parents – are suspended high above the floor in the ropes course, they are sure to also be exposed to the furniture and discover that in fact, furniture is fashion.