Popular digital retailer makes surprise brick-and-mortar move | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Furniture shopping used to be an event.

You’d spend part of a weekend — sometimes all of the weekend — going from store to store in search of items for your home.

💵💰 Don’t miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet’s free daily newsletter 💵💰

You sat on couches and lay down on mattresses. Maybe you opened a few dresser drawers or wondered if a coffee table would fit in your living room.

When you found something you liked, you paid for it and arranged for it to be delivered and assembled in your home.

You can still do all of this, of course. But the beauty of online retail means you can shop for a couch from the comfort of your current couch and have it shipped to your door.

Yes, even mattresses and couches can pop out of boxes. A friend recently bragged about a sectional arriving at his doorstep in six boxes, and he was able to assemble it himself, no less.

Digital home brands branch out into brick-and-mortar locations

In 2023, U.S. customers racked up $120 billion in digital sales for furniture and homeware, which accounted for nine percent of total retail e-commerce, according to Statista. That figure is expected to reach $177.4 billion in 2029.

But buying furniture online is a lot trickier than, say, buying a shirt or a pair of pants. Both of those can be easily packed up and sent back to the store with little trouble if they don’t fit or you don’t like the color.

It’s a bit harder when buyer’s remorse hits with a furniture purchase. That’s why some digital commerce home stores are opening physical locations so customers can see, touch, and experience furniture before they buy.

After several in-store partnerships, online mattress company Casper opened its first brick-and-mortar store earlier this year in New York.

Wayfair (W) continues to adds large-format physical retail stores to its portfolio, and it just celebrated the inaugural location of its luxury brand, Perigold.

But not all digital-first companies have made a complete success out of the transition to physical stores, as we’ve seen with the closing of 19 Parachute locations.

The ability to touch items is only good if a store can actually get customers to touch the items and buy them. And one digital furniture brand seems confident it can do that.

Joybird is opening more stores to appeal to buyers who prefer to shop for furniture in person.

Image source&colon; Shutterstock

Joybird opens yet another physical store

The modern furniture and home decor brand Joybird has recently opened its 13th showroom in Costa Mesa, California.

Founded in 2014, Joybird got its start as an e-commerce furniture company in 2014. Its acquisition by La-Z-Boy in 2018 helped the company expand its reach.

“Joybird’s sales were up 5 percent in our last fiscal year, and we have positive operating margins,” La-Z-Boy Portfolio Brands President Tj Linz told Business of Home. “We remain committed to expanding our business.” Other brands in this division include Hammary, Kincaid, and England Furniture Co.

Joybird’s newest location is an approximately 4,600-square-foot space that is part of the South Coast Collection, a destination for luxury home furnishings and design.

“We consider SoCo a premier design destination for Orange County,” Joybird Vice President Gerardo Ornelas told Furniture Today. “Its modern aesthetic and design-minded shoppers are the perfect match for our first showroom in Orange County. We are excited to welcome everyone in to explore our collections and fabrics, find their favorite sofas, and design a space as unique as they are.”

More retail news:

But that’s not all. Another store is scheduled to open later this year in Mission Viejo. According to Linz, there will be 25 or more Joybird locations over the next several years.

Joybird’s products are made in North America, which is good news at a time of tariff threats. It also has an eye toward sustainability, which resonates with Millennials and Gen Z.

The company still plans to nurture its digital customers, though. Those who live out of range of a physical location can get help from one of the Joybird Showroom From Home design consultants through online chat or by booking a 45-minute virtual appointment.