restoration hardware redo
It’s been about a year now (scary how time flies) that I first read about Restoration Hardware‘s “rebranding” from this great post over at Apartment Therapy. It’s been interesting to see throughout this time, the gradual transition the company has been doing. Last week I received the latest catalog, and in the intro, it says “…we’ve destroyed our precious iteration of ourselves, clearing the way to express our brand in a never-before-seen fashion…” The headline on the cover is “Reinvented. Remodeled. Reborn.” I noticed recently that the Restoration Hardware closest to me at South Coast Plaza had begun taking steps to update their store interior as well, and this week I finally got a chance to swing by and check it out…
Whoa- They weren’t kidding when they said they had “…completely destroyed…” their old look. My first impression was really affected by how dark the atmosphere was. Not necessarily “dark” in a gloomy way, but just… dark… and oddly, very quiet. It’s much more sophisticated and they’ve really gone for a “vintage”/european world traveled look. Words that came to mind were modern castle/chateau- chic. Before, I always got this east coast Nantucket/Hamptons vibe, but now gone are the sage green and white trim walls. They are replaced by a really dark brown/grey tone. Everything is muted or in neutral tones of woods and creams, and metals. This particular space at South Coast also felt really stark (maybe they’re still getting stuff in?)
I’m a bit on the fence about the whole thing. On the one hand, I kind of like this new look. There are a ton of really beautiful things. Looking in the catalog, I’m totally gaga over this 1950s Dutch Shipyard Shelving. They’ve definitely upped their prices, but hopefully at least they’ve upped the quality as well. These are definitely investment pieces. Although the overall look isn’t really my style, I do really like a lot of the things they are carrying. I also appreciate that they’ve made a strong stylistic statement, since their previous look was a bit… boring? I do miss their great towels and they always had a fun selection of vintage-y toys, gadgets, and tchochke’s. Also it’s interesting to see that in the catalog and on the website, the rooms and styling are shown in brighter settings. I think it’s a warmer and more inviting presentation as opposed to the darkness of the South Coast store. (Maybe it was just the weird track lighting that made it feel so dark)
Overall, I think this is a bold step for them, I’m just curious how it will work or resonate with the public. Will enough people be buying these pieces for it to be profitable? Anyway- for those of you that have a Restoration Hardware near you or have looked at the latest catalog, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this change. Comment below!
11 Responses
I gotta say I got the catalog the other day, and was completely unimpressed. I wasn’t a huge purchaser at Restoration Hardware before, but I was just shocked at the change. I mean, EVERYTHING in that catalog was grey, cream, and dull. NOW, I’m a cream color fanatic! Love it, but for some reason everything looked like it had been weathered and faded to death.
I’m just really surprised that in a down economy, their plan was to scrap everything, bring in (what I’d call) polarizing furnishings (it’s gonna take a specific type of customer to buy items of this nature) AND raise their prices. Along with completely reworking their stores. Apparently the economy wasn’t hurting them if they were able to do this?
I don’t know. I was slightly intrigued, yet I could never afford anything they’re selling, personally. So once I did a one over of the catalog, it honestly went into the trash. Just not my thing. I’ll be REALLY curious to see if this saves, or kills Restoration Hardware.
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yikes…it all looks terribly dated and serious to me. (aren’t they like 6 years late to the french-grain-sack pillow trend?) I don’t see this saving the brand at all. not surprising now that the store near me closed and is re-opening as a forever21!
saw the new catalog and now seeing these pictures…really terrible. I am depressed just looking at it. The store looks like some back corner of a furniture shop that they forgot to style.
Wow. That’s a huge change. I’m really not enamored with it, either.
File this under WHAT WERE YOU THINKING! OK I got the new catalog a few weeks back my first thought was SCALE if you are living in a hotel lobby your in luck they have 7′ tall lamps, and 10′ long sofas. Second thought is target market i.e. masculine fancy middle age men. Read between the lines. European, neo-classical, post industrial rustic, monochromatic, gray,beige and washed ash. RH please watch the movie Bird Cage again when Nathan Lane says “One must always have a touch of color”!
Furthermore the inside cover page is a full size picture of the CEO Garry Friedman. Wow! What do I know but common sense thinking might be that page one should be featuring merchandise not CEO.
I love reinventing, recreating, and new stars myself, however this is risky and a misstep in my opinion. I think RH needs to ask itself will this sell at the mall in Peoria? I don’t think this will sell to women in Los Angles.
On the other hand Sears was looking to buy RH can you imagine what they would have come up with?
I do like the (Belgian inspired) furniture, but the vibe in the store is definitely waaay too murky. It is not a fun store to visit, more of a boutique furniture gallery now without all of the fun containers and gifts and garden gear.
My prediction is that this specific model won’t work too well. Especially going into the holidays. So many of the vintage inspired pieces are really overpriced (like 500%+ markup overpriced).
I walked into the “reinvented” store closest to me, and it was so dark/gloomy I almost walked out thinking the store was not open yet or possibly out of business. The color on the walls was so oppresive that I couldnt wait to get out of there. Sad.
I pretty much agree with your impression and I am very surprised at the direction they’ve taken. I’m thinking this move is bold but misguided. I’m stunned that someone was able to sell them on this idea. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the board meetings leading up to this decision. I think the stuff is interesting, but I cannot see this one direction inspiring enough of the market to make it profitable. The best way I could describe this new style is steam punk!
I just went into 2 of their locations in Canada….soo disappointing. I went to their second location thinking the first had just changed over their stock to furniture only…but I was wrong…both locations are horrible. Dark, gloomy, goth, safari style furniture, weird geometric shaped chairs, no accessofies, terribly merchandised handles and pulls set up on display right at the cash registers! How are you supposed to browse through their selection when there are customers standing in line..and they’re displayed low so when you’re crouched down to look..your face is in somebody’s ass! The chandeliers they had on display were hideous, paint colours on walls were terrible…they painted over a beautiful white and maple staircase..ugly charcoal gray..and not even a great paint job. No affordable accessories, american chotchkies…nothing. I will not be back.
Used to be a lot of high quality furniture made in NC. Now a lot of it is imported from Asia and quite poorly made. The store is gloomy, feels like an old funeral home.
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