Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Purple Armchair in Downtown Raleigh

Just a bit from the Carolina Newswire press release:New Marketplace Emerges in Downtown Raleigh
"Purple Armchair (there is no 'the' before the name) opened for business at 600 West Street in February after the warehouse’s interior was extensive cleaning out and renovated. Billing itself as an 'emerging marketplace in downtown Raleigh,' the wide-open store offers 'art…vintage…everything,' according to its owner.

Purple Armchair is a membership-driven market and an association of artists, craftspeople and a lively assortment of vendors of unique merchandise. Membership pay fees on a month-by-month basis to have the store sell their wares. Mid-century modern furniture, pristine vintage and other handmade clothing, antiques, handmade jewelry, pottery, tableware and fine art are just a portion of the current inventory. But that’s going to change. Often.

'We carry just about everything, depending on what members we have at the time and what merchandise they offer,' he said. 'We are actively pursuing members all the time so that our inventory will continue to expand and change. We want our customers to be pleasantly surprised every single time they come in so that they’ll keep coming in time after time.'

Lawton also intends to add a coffee bar and fresh flower and herb vendors in the near future. 'I want to be the premier source for eclectic merchandise in downtown Raleigh. I want Purple Armchair to be the place where you find everything you couldn’t find at the last store you visited.'"
This seems like a REALLY exciting addition to Downtown retail. I can't wait to check it out!

PS - Almost forgot a link to the store's site!

2 comments:

  1. The place is not very impressive, in fact the outside photo says it all "Trash and a few nice things". It is really run on very tight budget, with no real marketing expertise, shoddy, unprofessional and lacking in any real style.

    Pity, great concept, but idiot at the helm.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's not that bad, but it looks a little Seedy from the outside. If you say he is running it on shoestring, then maybe he should go to the bank and borrow against the assets/home to make this place rock. Love the concept and hope it does well and if it has a coffee bar then great.

    ReplyDelete