Robb & Stucky International opened its third upscale Florida showroom here Monday.
At 68,000 square feet, the store on South Tamiami Trail is now its largest. It's also a former location of Bacon's Furniture, and before that, home of the original Robb & Stucky. The new owner - the family of Samson Holding CEO and founder Samuel Kuo - acquired the Robb & Stucky name at a bankruptcy auction in 2011.
Robb & Stucky International's new showroom in Sarasota, Fla., is its largest, at 68,000 square feet.
The new store will employ 30 people, including designers, customer service associates and delivery employees under the management of Rick Clary and Tony Siefert.
"This is a team of seasoned players and emerging talent," said Steve Lush, president of Robb & Stucky International, which opened its first and second stores in Fort Myers and Naples, Fla., respectively. "Our goal is the highest level of professionalism and innovation."
As in its other showrooms, the retailer uses a lifestyle display approach in the new store, featuring seven points of view, including Retropolitan -youthful, casual looks inspired by architectural forms with driftwood finishes, for example, and highly tactile fabrics like velvets, damasks and tone on tone. Other points of view include Classics, New Traditions, Twenty-One, The District, Water's Edge, and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, the latter supplier now featured as its own point of view.
This display in the new store features a Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams sofa and side chairs, and the chrome Seneca étagère by Thom Filicia, from Vanguard Furniture.
Specialty categories include an area rug department, mattresses, a luxury leather gallery and window treatments, blinds and flooring.
Robb & Stucky International purchased the Sarasota property and then spent seven months renovating both the interior and exterior.
"The result is a store that is bright, open, and easy to shop," the retailer said in a release.
"We are proud and happy to be part of the Sarasota community again," Lush said. In the release, he noted that Robb & Stucky will celebrate its 99th anniversary next year, and while it's now a new company under new ownership, "We honor the legacies that made Robb & Stucky great. But with new people, new products and new ideas that are in step with how people live today."
The store's Twenty-One point of view area features upholstery from Lazar and the Cooper cocktail and end tables from Charleston Forge.
The store's interior designers pose with Rick Clary, at far left, the general store manager, and Tony Siefert, sales manager, in the gray shirt in the back row.
