Introducing............Lovesac

THE RUMORS ARE TRUE!!! Lovesac has a new logo! In fact, Lovesac has a new--lot of things. A new look, a new store design, new products--oh yeah, and a whole new customer base. Somewhere over the last 10 years of retail stores, Lovesac evolved from me and my college buddies making giant Sacs of foam for our college buddies, to a furniture concept that sells entire room set-ups to mostly families and soccer moms. This new customer, often spending thousands with us on a huge Sactionals configuration, a wool rug, end tables, a coffee table and a lamp, also spends hours in our stores working with our staff to design their room--right alongside the endless stream of youth who sometimes make a running leap into our store to jump on a Sac. Lovesac's new store concept is designed to facilitate those design-focused convesations and to "tell" those customers that this unlikely little closet-of-a-furniture-store is for them.   [click photos to enlarge]

Since early 2011 we been working very closely with one of the greatest architectural and branding firms in the world, Pompei A.D., to re-design not only our logo, but our entire store concept and brand ethos. It has been an effort involving the entire design team and nearly everyone at Lovesac HQ. The biggest part effort was in helping Pompei understand this crazy brand and the walking oxymoron that we are in an effort to unearth that core nugget that makes us Lovesac and then from that build out the embodiement of our brand: the new store. This is the result. 

Pompei’s own ethos revolves around creating transformational brand experiences by integrating commerce, culture, and community. This brand ethos aligns well with Lovesac’s own culture and mission statement of "Building the greatest furniture brand for the world putting a Lovesac product in every home; making people's lives more comfortable."  We pride ourselves on building a unique culture where we work hard to create a real commercial opportunity that will be a great thing for the world.

Our first of these new concept stores just opened at the Woodlands Mall, in Houston, TX. At a whopping 1100 square feet (about the size of most of our neighbor's storage rooms) , It is a relatively large Lovesac store in one of the best retail centers in the U.S.

One of the most innovative and unique features of the new Lovesac stores is found in the “consultation area” of the store.  This is the place where we bring a customer after they have experienced the Sac or had a Sactionals demo. This hub table has shelving and drawers loaded with everything from swatch books to Sactionals Blocks, allowing for seamless and easy conversations centered around designing customer’s homes and completing their rooms.

Probably the most valuable products of this exercise has been Pompei’s helping us to crystallize our own brand guideposts. These guideposts not only help describe to us our own customers’ personalities, but they also  will help direct everything from our store design, to  our communications. You can see one practical application of these new brand guideposts in our approach to organizing and showcasing our Custom Order fabrics (see Other New Introductions section above). By way of example, this new approach is an effort not to show the fabrics to customers by like-price, but by like appeal--that is, by grouping them according to the above four guideposts, hopefully our practical-minded customers seeking a “practical” fabric for their family sectional covers will find what they’re looking for within our new practical swatch book--without having to confuse them with too many choices.

Each wall is adorned with selected groupings of Lovesac fabrics that align with our new band guideposts arranged in geometric patterns. This makes our concept of "buy the furniture and choose whatever covers you like" more intuitive and obvious to first-time customers.

The goal is to evolve all of these new fixtures and shelving into products that can actually be sold to cusomters as tables and book-cases, etc, for home use--thus maximizing our compact sales floor, in true Lovesac style.

 

 Lovesac’s new logo is not really a logo at all--but a logo concept. Put simply, it is a word mark using a ketchupa font with a weighted and shaped underline placed inside of either a simple, black icon, or a photographic “portal.” We will see dozens, even hundreds of iterations of this logo over time as it will change with each application and even season--a logo as dynamic as our brand.

There are two more of these new concept stores slated to open in 2011.  Stonestown, in San Francisco, CA in late November, and a re-location of our store in Lenox, in Atlanta, GA in early December. Each of these stores is a different size and shape and we expect to learn a lot from seeing our customers’ reaction to this new store concept in these 3 different markets. 

In 2011 we opened 15 new stores. Our plans for new store openings in 2012 will likely be slightly less ambitious. Rather, we plan to re-fit and remodel many existing stores and focus on the training and development of our people and sytems in an effort to raise our own abilities in customer service, interior design, and even product offering to match the level of these new, more sophisticated stores.

We still have a LONG way to go--but I think we're on our way.

Check it out--let me know what you think.

-- Shawny D.

Comments

[Sherri]

Love the new store layout and idea of the consultation area but sorry Shawny don't like the logo at all. Why change a great thing? Come on I know you are trying to improve but you should at least keep something from it's roots.. the logo you have already is awesome!! Anyway, I can't believe how much it has changed since that first store in the Gateway - good for you!!

[goas]

i love it!! it looks more clean, crisp and classic. way to go!

[brian altomare]

I think you guys nailed the new direction for LoveSac. The store design is awesome and the logo is a great toned down version for retail and competing against others in the space.

[Jeff M]

Why get rid of the old three-stripe LS logo? I thought it was one of the best company logos out there. Elegant, modern, minimalist, unique, and above all easily associated with the brand. The cover on the PillowSac's rocker even features the LS logo made into a continuous pattern... how many other company's logos can do that? What can this new logo do? It's not even a logo, it's just text. I could replace the text with any other company's name, and it would be exactly as appropriate. It's not even a stylish or attractive font. It looks inconsistently blurry, as if made carelessly. The underline has no clear purpose. Whatever design consultants you hired, I hope you didn't pay them very much for the logo, or I'm in the wrong business.

[Danielle]

I like the direction the store is moving. It offers a more professional, clean-cut look while still offering a place for all ages. The openness appeals to the customers view of less is more, while providing a variety of options for their home layout. I believe you should be careful in redesigning the logo, but I think the new logo is more versatile and offers more opportunity to evolve.

[Richard]

I can see how creating style neutral logo facilitates the ability to sell different styles of interior design, as well as alternative products, i'm not sure the dramatic shift will maximize floor space and revenue without losing the identity of LoveSac, its culture and history. I would proceed with caution, unless you feel you need to create a completely different company. Thats my 2 cents

[Jordan]

Stores look cool but I loved ur original logo pls don't change it. Ur logo is ur identity and u built that over many years, customers have also come to recognize and understand that logo. I have had so many people come to my house see my sactionals and asked who makes these. When i show them how they work and they see the logo they imeditly say oh i knw lovesac and i want these . All the new logos r just plain, boring, and r not ur personality.  KEEP UR ORIGINAL LOGO 

Jordan 

Sent from my iPhone

[Lauren Kelly]

Shawn,

I am really excited for the new changes. I really enjoy the idea of having a consultation area of the store. It will be a nice and smooth transition for the customer to receive a sactionals demo and then be guided to this area for a block demo, to look at fabric swatches, and etc. It's what we do now just much better and more organized. It may be easier to manage traffic as well - clients can be taken to this area to discuss completing their room while other sac'rs give Sactionals and Sac demos in the front living room area (demo sofa).

Our clients already receive a memorable shopping experience and with these improvements they won't be able to resist becoming part of the Lovesac family!

Great work - very excited!

[Shawn D. Nelson]

I love the feedback--good or bad. Keep it coming!!
Shawny D. Founder & Chairman, LOVESAC

[Professional ass kicker and name taker!!]

I agree with Tom, it's a step in the right direction. But kaizen is Japanese for "improvement", or "change for the better" and refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement!! It's never done! I love the look of the new store, for the new logo it might take a bit to get used to, but I'm excited to see when my local store will be re-fit!!

[Nick]

The stores look good Shawn. I like giving customers a chance to experience the product as much as is possible with furniture. It's shows confidence in your great product.

Interesting concept with the "logo." curious of the response people will have. Re-branding is tough because you want to make sure it is done right and not just because you are bored with the old. While I like the old vibe and logo, LoveSac is growing up. Trust yourself Shawn, this is your company, not Pompeii's. If you are behind the change, your customers should be too.

[Dave Gerczak]

Shawn,

The new stores look amazing. Best of luck to you, Nancy and the entire LoveSac team going forward. You have all earned any future success you have with your hard work over the years.

[Tim Sullivan]

Love it, you have created an even more amazing environment that enhances the interactive customer experience to a higher level! The guideposts will make this a much clearer overall visual to finish the entire vibe for the room(s) we will be creating to make our customers comfy dreams come true. Amazing Job!!

[Tom Brazelton]

The standard logo is a little plain, but I get the idea behind dropping the typeface into an icon. I can see how it would be used in different scenarios.

I think the new store layout is very impressive. Makes LoveSac look much more like a furniture store and less like someone's basement. It's very modern and mature. A step in the right direction.

[Staisha]

I abhor the new logo. I feel it takes the spirit of LoveSacs 70's roots away