Empire Today Opening First Stores

Flooring installer, Empire Today (Northlake, Ill.), will open its first retail store Thursday in Fairfax, Va. The launch will be followed by two more stores opening next week in the Long Island, N.Y. suburbs of Commack and Westbury.

Empire Today, known for its ubiquitous commercial jingle, has operated as a shop-at-home business in 70 U.S. markets since 1959.

East Coast markets were chosen for Empire Today’s foray into the brick-and-mortar arena because the region has traditionally proven to be one of the company’s strongest. The stores, measuring 4000 to 5000 square feet, have selling floors designed in product “neighborhoods,” so shoppers searching for a given product, such as hardwoods or berber carpeting, can find all of the choices across all price points in one location on the sales floor. Empire Today says it also worked with lighting specialists to replicate, in store, the natural light found in most homes.

Keith Weinberger, chief marketing officer, Empire Today, told the Chicago Tribune that while some customers respond to the shop-at-home format, a segment of shoppers “want to start in a store environment; they want to feel like they’re in control.”