Five floors of furniture
“We really wanted to have a destination: we call it a destination for design inspiration,” said Aline Lopez, AVP for Home Furnishings for Focus Global, Inc.
WHEN Focus Global, Inc.’s President Stephen Sy graduated from college, he first worked for the auditing firm SGV. “A friend of mine then asked me, ‘ What would I like to achieve in the years to come?’ I told him that I wanted to own and operate a successful business... [and] I was daydreaming; to own a building along Ayala Avenue.
“And now... we have a 24-story building along McKinley Parkway. This is not exactly Ayala Ave., but if you look at the map, McKinley Parkway is actually an extension of Ayala Avenue,” he said during a speech he made at the opening of Focus Global, Inc.’s new showroom in Twenty- four Seven McKinley building, the name coming from the intersection of streets in its address: 24th, 7th, and Mckinley Parkway streets in Bonifacio Global City.
The building has five floors dedicated to furniture showrooms of the brands it distributes, including Italian furniture brands B&B and Maxalto, a floor just for US-based Ethan Allen, a bathroom floor showing off Dornbracht and Villeroy & Boch fixtures, and kitchens using cabinets from Siematic and appliances from Miele, Sub-Zero, and Wolf.
Guests were taken to a tour on April 27, where every floor had a performance connected to its purpose. For the bathroom floor, models took a shower inside a model bathroom with real working showers and sinks — this shower had the bonus of controllable jets and even scent. For the kitchen floor, hors d’ouevres were served that were made using the appliances, while an aria was sung in the Italian furniture floors.
The furniture showrooms occupy five floors of the building, with two additional floors for client parking. The rest of the floors are to be leased for office space.
“We really wanted to have a destination: we call it a destination for design inspiration,” said Aline Lopez, AVP for Home Furnishings for Focus Global, Inc. “It’s more convenient for our clients, more convenient for architects, to just come here, and everything is in one place.”
She explains the need for the five floors, with 1,000 sqm. showrooms. “As always, for inspiration, it’s better to use a lot of setups, and then especially for furniture... based on our experience, people are very visual... they want to buy what they already see.”
The company started in 1991 by importing Coleman outdoor equipment, moving on to kitchen accessory brand KitchenAid in 1995, and Oster in 1996, the same year that they brought in high-end furnishings brand Ethan Allen. Aside from its home appliance brands, it is also the importer for DMC embroidery threads from France.
“Well, they’re all the best in the industry, these brands that we carry... if you’ve noticed, they’ve become household names,” she said, citing how Coleman has become synonymous to jugs and coolers. “Oster — people now use ‘osterize’ as a verb!”
Its other brands include Tempur mattresses and pillows, Insinkerator sink garbage disposal units, Boffi kitchen cabinets (added to its portfolio last year),and HunterDouglas window treatments.
The location of the showroom in Bonifacio Global city is also part of the company’s strategy. “We think, this is really the next Makati,” said Ms. Lopez. The company will supply several highrise condominiums currently being built in the area.
Opening the building, filled with high- end furniture and home appliances, is an indication of the Philippines’ growth. “We just felt that it was about time, the market is very ripe... a lot of competition [is] coming in also in the furnishings industry... [ maybe] the market also outside; they see the potential of the Philippines; [its] growth,” said Ms. Lopez.
“If we didn’t think the market was ready, this is such a huge gamble for us,” she said. —