There are stores where you can buy food, stores where you shop for clothes or toys or computers–and now, stores where you can shop for a home. California-based Newhall Land & Farming Co., developers of new towns and master-planned communities, has opened the Valencia Homefinding Center, which was designed specifically to market Valencia, Calif. The 2000-sq.-ft. store, designed by W. Newton, Mass.-based Design Continuum, was built based on a retail showroom concept, with integrated interior design, displays and graphics aimed at promoting not only individual residences, but city-wide attributes such as schools, business, industry, shopping and other marketable features. Six interactive kiosks fan around a map of the city to provide visitors with a virtual tour of Valencia. Images of available houses are presented along an 8-by-23-ft. backwall. A special display is devoted to the people of Valencia, introducing potential residents to their future neighbors.
Photo: Courtesy of Design Continuum, W. Newton, Mass./San Francisco