Slate Interiors, a multi-merchant interior furnishings store located on Central Avenue, plans to expand by 2,000 square feet, adding new merchants and artists as business grows.
Owner Debbie Hartnett said she hopes to complete the renovations and expansion with minimal disruptions to the store, and to remain open except for a day or two. The changes involve knocking down parts of a wall separating her store from adjacent storage space.
The Frank Scibelli-owned Midwood Smokehouse is located in the same building as Slate, and that restaurant is expanding as well. Hartnett said she'll lose some space to Midwood Smokehouse, but still gain more space in the end, expanding from 4,800 to 6,800 square feet.
"It'll be noisy, a little dusty, but I think the outcome will be positive," Hartnett said. "We were hoping to get it done before the DNC, but I'm not sure that will happen. It will be sometime in September."
Slate carries a mix of antique, vintage and modern interior furnishings from 30 merchants. The store also carries original art from 33 artists. Hartnett said the product mix and prices are designed to appeal to young professionals and the Millenial generation.
As part of the expansion, Hartnett said Slate will add six more merchant booths and 12 more artists. After that, the store will probably be the right size for the foreseeable future, she said.
"You want to be careful not to dilute your product, so to speak, and you want to keep a handle on your price point," said Hartnett. "It's really important that you only grow to a certain point and then hold it."
Hartnett said business has been strong, despite continuing economic uncertainty. "June was our biggest month, by far, in sales," she said. Many of her customers are doing fine, she said, though they are furnishing more modest homes than they might have been before the downturn.
"The homes that are selling are not the million-dollar homes, but the $350,000 to $500,000 homes, and those are the people that are coming in to buy products," she said. "They're buying a piece at a time, and they're very conscious of quality."
I previously wrote about Slate, which opened in late 2010, here.
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