Nebraska Furniture Mart opens nation’s largest home furnishings store

New York -- While most retailers are shrinking their footprints, Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM) is doing just the opposite, opening the nation’s largest home furnishings store. Located in the new 433-acre Grandscape mixed-use development in The Colony, Texas, the two-level store has a whopping 560,000 sq, ft. of selling space (equivalent to about nine football fields). Including its on-site warehouse, the space totals more than 1.8 million sq. ft.



The company, owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, prides itself on an everything-under-one-roof approach. The new store sells 100,000 products, ranging from very high-end items to value offerings, and has another 500,000 items in stock in the warehouse.



NFM partnered with Interbrand Design Forum, Dayton, Ohio, to design the mega-store, which took two years to build. It is NFM’s largest location to date.



“When you think about the volume of merchandise, this is like building a bricks-and-mortar Amazon of merchandise for your home,” said Amanda Kohnen, senior creative director, Interbrand Design Forum. “This has been an exciting design challenge to help NFM create a store with a vast assortment, but that is also easily shoppable for the customer.”



The design team’s goal was to make the gigantic store feel smaller and more manageable. Open sightlines help accomplish this as having a view across the space allows shoppers to orient themselves. Another key was the creation of a design system that provides a framework for using the space. The system includes towers and beacons that help shoppers intuitively identify departments and encourage exploration.



Floor Plan: The floor plan is divided in half by a main boulevard. Furniture is to the right where the merchandise is grouped and styled by rooms in a diverse mix of styles. All of the furniture departments are arranged so that prices are lower in the back near the clearance areas and more expensive in the front near the Design Galleries.



The first level also includes electronics where shoppers can find everything from smart phones to home theater products and fitness equipment, kitchens, appliances, office furniture and a huge assortment of flooring including carpet, rugs and tile.



On the second floor, the living room space covers the center area. Mattresses and bedroom sets ranging from cribs to kings are on the left and dining options are on the right.



Interactive kiosks are used throughout the massive space to augment the shopping experience in different ways. There are a number of touch-screen monitors that allow customers to search and obtain directions to specific categories, brands or products. There are also interactive design tools and brand specific touch-screens, such as in the KitchenAid area. Large video screens inspire, convey brand messages and entertain at key moments.



Digital price tags are used throughout the store and are expected to generate huge savings. The tags will allow associates to change prices up to twice a day via infrared technology. And to supplement the 65 cash registers, associates can provide mobile checkout on the sales floor with tablets.



Some of the vast store’s unique highlights include:



• Treehouse focal in the kids bedding area, where animated movies are shown;

• “Man cave” area featuring pool tables, game tables and bar counters’

• A 96-ft. interactive headphone wall;

• High-end kitchen shops showcasing the latest high-tech options; and

• A pop-up shop whose theme will change out quarterly. For its debut, the focus is unique Texas items.