Fixtures Living, Costa Mesa, Calif.

Most consumers head to a home improvement or warehouse store when they need a new refrigerator or plumbing fixture. But in Southern California, a new retail experience allows shoppers to add a cup of artisanal coffee and a shower to the experience.

Fixtures Living in Costa Mesa, Calif., is out to change the industry paradigm, which is “obsolete and irrelevant,” according to ceo Jeffery Sears.

Replacing the common rows and floor-to-ceiling stacks of merchandise, Fixtures Living has created what it calls a “joyful journey” – inviting, informative, inspirational and, most of all, interactive. Not only can shoppers learn about convection cooking, they can participate in actual cooking and grilling projects. They can even take off their clothes and wander through a private, secluded line of high-end shower heads, immersing themselves in the product features and benefits of more than 30 different styles.

Sears says they have shifted the experience from need-based – as in “my refrigerator is broken, I need to replace it” – to want-based and aspirational.

Why aspirational? “Because these products don’t just deliver food and water,” Sears insists, “they deliver experiences, memories and a better way to live.”

The journey through the 21,000-square-foot space begins at the wide and open entrance, where customers are handed a fresh cup of coffee from a La Mazocca brewing machine.

Open sightlines guide shoppers to a series of kitchen, bath and patio vignettes, then to well-appointed consulting rooms where the details are finalized. “We developed the journey into four phases: Fantasize, Experience, Realize and Utilize,” says Christian Davies, executive creative director at Fitch (Columbus, Ohio). “It’s designed to be an intuitive voyage, from developing your dream to installing it at home.”

The “experience” part of the store is the merchandise presentation in its natural habitats. Lifestyle displays aren’t new to appliance and electronics retailing, of course. But, says Davies, “nine times out of 10, you’re standing in a 50,000-square-foot big box with 40-foot ceilings and fluorescent lights and asked to imagine that this is your kitchen. Here, the ceilings are a more manageable 14 feet, the lighting is residential and the materials palette is what you’d see in your own home.”

The journey is gently driven by a system of signage and graphics, some meant to inspire (“There is no greater love than the joy of discovery”) and some to inform, like wayfinding departmental demarcations and plasma screens that show loops of product features and demonstrations.

And there are regular special events, such as “Woof Monday,” when people bring in their dogs and learn how to cook for their pets, or “grilling labs,” when customers are invited to bring in their own food and cook alongside one of the store’s chefs.

Those are designed to capture consumers’ time and interest – the consumers, in this case, being the upscale Orange County shoppers who frequent the fashionable nearby South Coast Plaza.

“Statistically,” says Davies, “between 70 and 80 percent of all appliance purchases start in the traditional large-format category killers.” But Fixtures Living is looking to change that. And it’s not just going after the traditional home store slice of the business.

“Our competition is also every luxury brand,” says ceo Sears. “We’re competing with them for the affluent consumer’s time and attention and discretionary dollar. We want those consumers to ask themselves, ‘Do I want to spend all that money on a spa vacation, or should I instead turn my home into a spa that I can visit year-round?’ ”

PROJECT SUPPLIERS

Retailer: Fixtures Living, San Diego – Arturo Vazquez, director of store planning and design; Ted Trautwein, chief dreative director; Danny Swaim, vp of business development; Jennifer Shoemaker, store planning and design

Design and Architecture: Fitch, Columbus, Ohio – Christian Davies, executive creative director, Americas; Eric Daniel, creative director; Joanne Putka-White, design director, lead designer; Andrea Buccasso, environmental designer; Brian Connell, graphic designer; Jenn Bajec, graphic designer; Kevin Evernham, director of architecture; Blair Leach, associate director of architecture; Ron Cantorna, job captain, architecture; Heidi Gordon, project manager; Romano Klepec, client manager

Outside Design Consultants: Via Desig, Ltd. Cincinnati (sustainable design); Lighting Design Alliance, Long Beach, Calif. (lighting); W.West Equipment, Denver (kitchen consultant); La Cornue, N.A./Purcell Murray Brisbane, Calif. (specialty cabinetry)
Hirsch Engineering Inc., Houston, (engineers); Caruso Turley Scott, Tempe, Ariz. (structural engineers); Instant Jungle/Tournesol Siteworks, Hayword, Calif. (greenwall system)

Art: Karen Rumora, Baltimore, Ohio

Audio/Visual: Mastercraft, San Diego

Cabinetry: Victory Millwork, Las Vegas
La Cornue, N.A./Purcell Murray, Brisbane, Calif.

Drapery: Blind Designs, Spring Valley, Calif.

Display Fixtures: Victory Millwork, Las Vegas

Exterior Siding: Tradewinds Constuction, Las Vegas

Fabric Walls: Sanders & Wohrman Corporation, Orange, Calif.

Flooring: Universal Flooring, Huntington Beach, Calif.

Hanging Sculpture: Ecovolve Now, Santa Barbara, Calif.

Lighting: 3 Form, Seattle; Wiedenbach-Brown Co., Inc., Yorba Linda, Calif.

Mosaics: Tuo Sogno, La Jolla, Calif.

Paint: Sanders & Wohrman Corporation, Orange, Calif.

Signage/Graphics: Fusion Sign and Design, Riverside, Calif.

Wallcoverings: Sanders & Wohrman Corp., Orange, Calif.

Vignettes & Product Sponsors: Kitchen Encounter, Huntington Beach, Calif.;
Donna Whyte Design, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; In Place Studio, La Jolla, Calif.; The Kitchen Lady, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; Roomscapes, Inc., Laguna Niguel, Calif.;
Audra Miller Interiors, Orange, Calif.; El Dorado Stone, San Marcos, Calif.; H&J Cabinets, Tustin, Calif.; California Closets, Huntington Beach, Calif.; Ceasarstone, Sun Valley, Calif.; Dal Tile, Upland, Calif.; Silestone, Anaheim, Calif.; Cambria, Manhattan Beach, Calif.; Marazzi Tile, San Diego, Calif.; Stone & Ceramic Surfaces, Huntington Beach, Calif.

General Contractor: Burke Construction Group, Inc. Las Vegas

Photographer: Mark Steele, Mark Steele Photography, Columbus, Ohio