Peek inside Wayfair’s first permanent brick-and-mortar store

Wayfair has become a go-to resource for home shopping, and it’s a distinctly online experience. But like a number of online home brands, the Boston-based company has decided to offer shoppers an in-store experience as well.

Located on the first floor of Natick Mall in Natick, Massachusetts, the company’s first permanent brick-and-mortar store fills 3,400 square feet with hundreds of products for in-store purchase and an array of “curated spaces” featuring products available for home delivery. It might seem unusual for a brand that sold $6.8 billion worth of furniture in 2018 to turn to more traditional retailing, but it’s a growing trend.

Like Ikea’s new small-format stores in city centers, the brick-and-mortar Wayfair experience will focus on providing customers with design advice to recreate rooms with various products. Customers will also have the opportunity to use Wayfair’s Custom Upholstery program to customize colors and fabrics to match individual styles.

This approach integrates traditional retail shopping with more digital experiences. Although the new Wayfair store will only sell a fraction of the retail giant’s 14 million products, it will offer something you can’t get online: the change to touch and try out things before you buy.