Kitchen & Bath Design News

JAN 2013

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Photo: Ranero Photography The kitchen in the Calais Showcase Home in MainStreet America reqects the French Hill Country architecture of the house. pnishes for products. ���For the most part, we ended up with everyone really being happy, I believe, with the type of products they���re showing in conjunction with the style of the home,��� Babinaux o���ers, ���from the company putting in the lumber to the one supplying the door handles.��� MainStreet America has over 100 manufacturing partners currently, and many were drawn to the project because of its unique approach. Aquatic, a major supplier to the site with 30 products in nine houses, is treating MainStreet America as its largest showroom. ���Texas has been relatively strong through this economy, and its centralized location makes it a great place for us to have meetings and bring customers,��� stresses Stacy Zar, director of marketing and new product development for Aquatic in Anaheim, CA. ���With the [three] model homes our products are in and the Manna Distributors showroom in the area, it���s like having three showrooms in one city,��� notes Joe Gonzales, district sales manager for Bosch in Irvine, CA. ���This was an opportunity to get our product in front of different audiences, architects, designers, remodelers and builders as well as homeowners,��� notes Mitch Slater, president of the Wallingford, CT-based Danver, which has a kitchen featured in three of the homes. ���Our best advertisement is people seeing it, because it is a di���erent approach to outdoor kitchens than any other company uses, and when the right person sees it, they want it.��� Being displayed in MainStreet America also gives Danver a regional showroom for people who want to see the product in a neutral place and installed in context, Slater adds. ���We just see a real value in the marketplace and how the dynamics have changed, where so many more people are looking for design ideas,��� comments Tim Kemrite, area sales manager, GE Appliances and Lighting in Louisville, KY. ���It gives us a great venue to show the broad array of appliances that we have in a real kitchen environment versus a showroom or vignettes. People can actually see them and, if they want to, take them for a test drive, because the products are all live ��� like they would be in your own home.��� Moen, which showcases its products in six of the homes, was drawn to the unique approach to the marketplace. ���The ability to feature the Moen brand and our products within this project was not only a great opportunity in the Houston market, but we saw it as one of the more innovative approaches in the country,��� o���ers Ryan Gro���, target market manager, Moen in North Olmsted, OH. Uponor is pleased with the unique exposure its products receive in the homes. ���Typically, in a model home, plumbing systems are hidden behind the walls; however, MainStreet America showcases our products behind Plexiglas cutouts in the wall,��� says Carl Hines, national builder sales manager ��� West, Uponor in Apple Valley, MN. ���This allows consumers the opportunity to see the our plumbing system and better understand its benepts.��� With products in three of the homes, Morrow, GA-based TOTO believes it has seen strong ROI from the project, ���with signipcant exposure to our products by people who want to build new or remodel existing homes.��� ENTERTAINMENT PLUS Though the homes are the primary draw for visitors, MainStreet America is designed to be a destination for the entire family. Yearround events have been put in place to bring people back on a regular basis, including wine tastings and preworks in the summer and trick-ortreating in the fall. The park can also be rented for private functions, block parties and corporate events. ���Christmas on MainStreet��� was the o���cial opening for the park this past November, and featured holiday lights, carolers, train rides and even Santa. A $10 admission fee provides access to all of the homes and events, as well as instruction at the Home Ownership Learning Center. ���The Learning Center is the umbrella for all of our seminars, including our DIY instruction and our educational classes,��� o���ers Babinaux. The site also has a cooking demonstration studio with cooking classes, a restaurant, a specialty caf�� and a childcare area. Visitors can even be a part of the Better Home Show ��� a Saturday call-in radio program that will be broadcast live from MainStreet America���s studio. HI-TECH SHOPPING In keeping with the uniqueness of the park, the shopping experience itself is one that is like no other. Guests can access instant information about products featured in each showcase home through the use of a specially designed hand-held tool. ���The star of the show is called TED ��� our Technological Education Device that uses RFiD scanning technology,��� explains Babinaux. The android tablet device has a built-in scanner, and when a person scans the RFiD tag on a product, information appears on the screen. ���The information can include an image of the product, description, buying information, even a video supplied by the manufacturer,��� he o���ers. ���If you really like the product, you hit the Add to My Project button on the device. When a person completes their tour, an email is sent with a user name and password. ���When the customer logs in to mainstreetamerica. com, their own private page is available to them. It features all of the products they saved to their TED device, organized in folders by product category,��� Babinaux adds. Babi nau x notes t hat manufacturers are provided an administration site where they can observe real-time clicks to see activity. ���Manufacturers can log onto this Web site any time and see exactly how many engagements they���ve had with what product,��� he reports. January 2013 ���TED gives us a great line of sight as to how much tra���c goes through the park, how many people are scanning our products, what products seem to pique the most interest and then, once they really get into the information, how many of those people purchase our products,��� reports Kemrite. ���So, it gives us the opportunity to get customer research that we wouldn���t get for someone who just walks into a [showroom].��� ���We love that this theme park o���ers visitors the opportunity to see, feel and visualize their own homes with our product in it,��� stresses Tammy Weadock, marketing communications manager for Wilsonart in Temple, TX, whose products are in four of the homes. ���And, visitors have the ability to locate specipc product information on the spot should they be so inspired.��� Feigin���s plan is to have another MainStreet America venue ���up and running in another market in pve years with the same concept,��� notes Babinaux. ���We just need to prove the concept now with manufacturers and consumers. When we prove we have a winning formula, then we can go and duplicate it.��� ���As Feigin expands on this idea and goes across the country, I know we���ll be a natural connection for them,��� comments Michele Hudec, v.p. of channel marketing, American Standard in Piscataway, NJ. ���We���re really excited about the future.��� ForResidentialPros.com | 27

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