HOUSTON — Perigold, Wayfair‘s luxury online retail brand, has opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Houston‘s Highland Village, giving consumers a chance to interact directly with its designer product lines.
The 20,000-square-foot space offers more than 150 home brands across furniture, décor, lighting and kitchen and bath categories, including Century, Oly, Theodore Alexander, Visual Comfort, Scalamandré, Stark Rugs and House of Rohl.
Along with brand shops, room-by-room inspiration and full-category sections, the store features shoppable vignettes curated by nationally known design partners such as Marie Flanigan, Jessica Davis, Helen Bergin and Isabelle and Julie Neill, said Rebecca Ginns, global head of Perigold. “We are also currently developing what are partnerships look like with local designers,” she added.
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The store offers a mix of small décor and giftable items that are available for cash and carry, while larger furniture items, excluding custom pieces, will be stocked in the area and available for local delivery within a week, Ginns said.
Shoppers have access to in-house design services and concierge support, while designers can use dedicated meeting rooms for client consultations. There’s also a patio to accommodate community gatherings and private client sessions.
The store’s grand opening weekend runs June 27-29, during which time customers can receive a 15% discount on in-store purchases up to $500 in savings, along with enjoying complimentary refreshments and music. After the opening celebration, the store will offer regular events such as guest speakers, panels and book signings.
Ginns said Houston was selected because it is “a large and growing market where we already have a strong customer base and believe we can be the destination for all things design. Houston’s reputation as a hub for innovation, style and architectural diversity makes it an ideal match for Perigold’s expansive product assortment, which spans traditional to modern styles.”
Perigold is the last among the Wayfair brands to have its own stores. In May 2024, Wayfair opened a flagship location in suburban Chicago with two more in the works for Atlanta and Yonkers, N.Y. Across the other brands, Joss & Main now has two locations; Birch Lane, four; and All Modern, three.
When asked what lessons they’ve learned from the other retail stores that helped shape Perigold, Ginns said: “We’ve found that consumers have really enjoyed getting to interact with products first-hand at the Wayfair stores and we’re looking forward to bringing that experience to them.
“Physical retail is a powerful way to reach new audiences,” she noted, adding that half of the purchasing customers at the Illinois Wayfair store are new to the brand.
“Physical stores play a unique role in driving both ends of the purchase spectrum,” said Ginns. “On one end, they encourage spontaneous purchases of lower-ticket items like pillows, décor and accessories that customers can take home on the spot. On the other, they build trust and confidence for high-consideration purchases” including major furniture investments.
“While our roots are online, we know some customers like to shop for products in person,” she said. “As the destination for luxury homes, we also wanted to expand into brick and mortar to create a real-world experience where customers can explore the superior craftsmanship and materials of our product offering firsthand.”
Although the Wayfair brands share back-end infrastructure and logistics, Ginns said Perigold has maintained “its own curated identity, visual language and tone, catering to high-end, design-savvy shoppers and interior designers.”
“The majority of our business is the end customer, people who don’t use a designer, or do and are rounding out their space, or furnishing a second home. We also have a large and growing trade and B2B business,” she said.
Perigold, Ginns said, “was created to address a gap in the market, where access to luxury, designer-caliber furniture and home goods was limited and fragmented for consumers. Perigold continues to bridge this gap by offering access to trusted, high-end home brands.”
A second Perigold store is coming in fall to the West Palm Beach market. That store, said Ginns, will be slightly larger at nearly 30,000 square feet over two floors, including a balcony overlooking its CityPlace location.