Have you ever wanted to take the back roads and scour country antique stores for home furnishings but haven't had the time and money to do so?
Well, Thomasville Furniture Industries Inc., has come to your rescue with its home furnishings specialty shop "Country Inns and Back Roads."Introduced in October at the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C., this program is designed to meet the needs of many people who want to return to traditionalism. And since it brings everything under one roof, it does the job easily and conveniently.
"Our research tells us that people today want to come home to something special," explained James E. Adams, Thomasville's vice president of merchandising and advertising. "They want to feel a tug on the heartstrings and relax with that secure feeling of the more comfortable, trustworthy past."
Master's Thomasville Gallery in Murray, Utah's exclusive dealer, is the first Thomasville Gallery among such markets as California, Phoenix, New York and Chicago to introduce "Country Inns and Back Roads."
To implement this specialty shop, the local gallery has expanded its space another 7,000 square feet. Designed as a store within a store, the shop will be a kaleidoscope of patterns, textures, shapes, colors and scents that reflect the flavor of country inns.
"The Country Inns and Back Roads home furnishings program is a totally unique concept in marketing," said Mark Ross, president of Master's Home Furnishings, Inc. in Murray. "Consumers will be able to purchase furniture and all the coordinated accessories to go along with it" - accessories such as rugs, draperies, wallcoverings, wall art and lamps.
Included in this program are 70 pieces of furniture for the living room, dining room and bedroom. They are reminiscent of furniture considered as family heirlooms in many American homes.
Thirty-one pieces make up the American Parlor collection. Crafted in mahogany with low-luster finish, they focus on formal country furniture.
The cornerstone of this collection is the Cape May Armoire, adapted from a mahogany wardrobe found in the Clara Barton Room at the Mainstay Inn in the Victorian seaside village of Cape May, N.J. Another piece, the Field Flowers Chest, is delicately decorated with the variety of wild flowers that grow freely in the fields in Bucks County, Pa.
The other collection, Country Cottage, comprises 39 pieces. More casual, it features furniture crafted in oak with a low-sheen, burnished antique finish.
Some of the fascinating pieces in this group include the Fainting Couch, Maryland Poster Bed, Cottage Sideboard, Hearthside Table and Portland Washstand.
Thomasville Furniture Industries got its inspiration for this home furnishings program from the publication "Country Inns and Back Roads," a travel guide that describes more than 200 of the best inns throughout the United States and Canada. Many people call it "the bible of the inn-going public."
Norman T. Simpson wrote the first guide 25 years ago and continued to update it yearly until his death in 1988. Since then, revisions have been made annually by travel writer and inn consultant Jerry Levitin. The guide is published by HarperCollins.
The grand opening of the Country Inns and Back Roads specialty shop in Utah is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. on Friday, March 8, at the Master's Thomasville Gallery Utah, 5420 S. Green Street (just west of I-15), 263-1292.
Ross is eagerly looking forward to the opening, with enthusiasm about this fresh, new approach to furniture retailing. He says it not only integrates space, merchandise and ambience into a cohesive retail image but it's "an effective way to address the changing marketplace and generate retail growth and profitability."