West Elm fine-tuning its stores for sound

Shoppers at select West Elm stores will soon have their very own listening rooms — with state-of-the art sound speakers.



The home furnishings retailer announced a partnership with Sonos to sell the company’s sound speakers and components in its U.S. stores and website, and to install “Sonos listening labs” in 16 West Elm stores. The listening rooms will be outfitted with West Elm’s signature modern furnishings and accessories and Sonos home sound system products.



Sonos, a maker of high-quality “smart” home sound systems, recently opened its first store, in Manhattan.



West Elm unveiled the prototype “listening lab” at its store on the Upper Westside of Manhattan, with others planned for select locations in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami and Seattle. The rooms will be tailored to provide custom, high-fidelity listening environments and built to accommodate each store’s varied and unique floorplan.



“Well-designed products and innovative technology make an impact in any space, and Sonos’ best-in-class speakers help further our vision of enhancing our customers’ in-store experience,” said West Elm president Jim Brett.



Sonos products will be available in all of West Elm’s U.S. stores and online by spring 2017. West Elm will also offer in-home setup of Sonos products whereby customers will be able to hire a trained West Elm associate to identify the optimal Sonos products for their homes, and assist in the setup and installation. The service will start at $129, and be available in select metro areas. Installation services will start at $129 and be available in select metro areas, including New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.



West Elm, a division of Williams-Sonoma, operates 94 stores in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.