Popular online furniture and home furnishings retailer Wayfair will come to life next weekend as the company's opens its first-ever brick-and-mortar store inside Eden's Plaza in suburban Wilmette.
With a purple and white exterior and natural light beaming in, the 150,000 square-foot store, at 3232 Lake Avenue, is a far cry from the looks of the former Carson Pirie Scott department store that occupied the space for decades before shuttering in 2018.
On the inside, more than 80,000 pieces of inventory -- from couches and cribs, to wallpaper, flooring, backsplash, showers, sinks and refrigerators -- plus a home improvement section, test kitchen and fully-loaded design center line the newly renovated walls.
"We wanted customers to see that we have things for the entire home," Barclay Resler, Wayfair's head of visual merchandising said during a media tour Wednesday. "And not only that, we have the entire style spectrum, so everything from the most modern, through the spectrum to the most traditional, and also really every price point."
Similar to a home furnishings store, a walk through Wayfair offers multiple home vignettes and colors along with finishing touches like pillows, candles, vases and tableware. While many of its furniture and finishing brands are signature ones -- like Joss & Main, which also has a brick-and-mortar store in the Chicago area -- it also carries appliances from top names like Samsung, Bosch and Cuisinart.
The store also offers custom cabinetry for kitchens, complimentary design services, a gallery wall creator and a "Dream Center" that allow customers to get matched with certain mattresses and pillows using a five-question process.
According to officials, customers can select and purchase items in store and pick them up at the end of the shopping trip, though some items would need to be delivered. Customers can also order items online for store pick-up, or select "fast and free shipping," which typically takes under a week.
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The store also features an on-site restuarant called "The Porch," with all-day breakfast along with snacks, salads, sandwiches, coffee and beer and wine, Resler said, adding that customers should feel free to "sip and shop."
During Wednesday's event, officials said the Chicago market -- Wilmette, in particular -- offered a "great" opportunity for Wayfair's first physical store.
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"Lots of young families here," said Liza Lefkowski, VP of merchandising. "It's kind of right for our brand."
Lefkowski went on to say that the store is meant to be a destination for all things "home," and to fit a wide variety of budgets.
The grand opening for Wayfair is set for 10 a.m. Thursday May 23, with "exclusive deals and family-friendly activities" throughout the weekend, a release said. Following the grand opening, the store and restuarant hours will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, the release added.
Ahead of the opening, here's a sneak peek into what it looks like inside:
