A new showroom for Winning Appliances in Richmond Victoria presents hospitality at the heart of this retail experience.

As design ideas from residential projects have been incorporated into our workplaces, so too has the essence of hospitality joined forces with retail to create a more hospitable offering. With coffee carts now commonly positioned within commercial buildings, pop-up cafés adjoining lobbies in public spaces and retail shops offering coffee, water and wine to VIP customers, hospitality abounds — something that is evident in the Winning Appliances Richmond Showroom.

The commission from Winning, a Sydney-based kitchen and laundry market leader, was awarded to Cera Stribley after a rigorous interview and presentation process. As this was the company’s first venture into Victoria, Winning wished to express their brand in a way that was place-specific and would speak to a Victorian clientele.

The core of the brief was to showcase the multitude of kitchen and laundry brands that are distributed by Winning in a complementary display. Each brand was to have its own ‘tenancy’, with brand and design individually interpreted. Shoppers were to enjoy a sensory experience – to see, touch and feel products – and then be able to literally taste food from ovens or drink coffee from coffee machines to better help in the selection and buying process.

The flagship showroom is located on busy Swan Street in Richmond and has been re-developed from an aged showroom in the front section with a warehouse in the back. Overall, the site is extensive, with a ground-floor area of 1200 square metres and a mezzanine of 400 square metres. The new ground floorplate is loosely divided into two. The various brands have been positioned around the periphery of the floor; in the middle is a large, elliptically shaped hospitality area known as the Culinary Theatre. The entrance and lobby are generous and welcoming spaces, with an upmarket residential feel that is beautifully resolved in its detail. Columns have been placed within this threshold and their inclusion creates a feeling of gravitas that extends to the premium brands area where Miele, Smeg, Gaggenau, V-Zug and other highend kitchen appliance brands are located. Throughout, each brand represents their range of products in-situ, built into cabinetry as a working home kitchen or laundry that also showcases the breadth of product available.

Cera Stribley Managing Principal, Dom Cerantonio and Senior Interior Designer, Jessica Coulter have injected a Melbourne vibe into the new showroom through the architecture and interior palettes, concurrently expressing the Winning brand and style of business where the experiential element is key.

The space is vast, with a high ceiling and polished concrete floors that adjoin an engineered timber floor at the rear of the premise. Black powder-coated steel doors and windows complement the tactility of the raw, red-brick walls; a dramatic, black-painted steel staircase leads to the mezzanine. At the side of the stair, a grouping of sofa, chairs and coffee table has been positioned with a sweeping sixmetre curtain, dark and dramatic, as a backdrop. This is a delightful inclusion and certainly engenders a residential feel to the space.