C
oventry Lighting and Design Center is so much
more than lighting. Following the housing
crash in 2008, the 6,500-square-foot showroom
decided to bring furniture into its mix as a
way to set itself apart from the competition, and it hasn’t
looked back since. With four interior designers on staff, the
showroom can offer full residential and commercial design
packages, making it a one-stop shop in the Youngstown/
Canfield, OH area.
That’s just one of the reasons the judges were wowed by
Coventry Lighting and Design Center.
Until 2018, Coventry Lighting was a pen-and-paper
company. New Showroom Manager Michelle Cruz
brought in Lights America and Windward
Software, implementing both programs
before the end of the year.
“Showrooms need to make their
stores a place where it’s easy to do
business,” says Cruz. “The internet
makes it so easy — click, click and
you’re done. We need systems
in place that make searching for
product easy, writing orders quick
and efficient, and looking up past
orders painless. These things matter to
consumers.” And they’ve increased the
store’s business as a result.
Another thing that Cruz says has been
key to success? The right product mix.
“Most lighting showrooms only have
a few accessories, artwork, mirrors and
small accent pieces, but having some
furniture can be a great add-on to a
lighting order,” says Cruz. “Showrooms
should look cohesive and beautiful. It may
mean you have to move a ton of chande-
liers around but in the end it’s easier for
the consumer as well as for your staff to
have your lighting grouped by likeness.”
Because of Coventry’s product mix,
merchandising is one of the staff’s favorite
things to do. By offering furniture from
brands like Hooker, Bernhardt, Sam Moore
and Dovetail, plus other decor items, Cruz
and her team can create beautiful vignettes that awaken the
imagination of their customers so they can get a sense of how
the lighting or furniture would look in their home and how to
pair them together to create a beautiful space. The team is
constantly reinventing its displays to create different looks, and
customers frequently comment on how the showroom looks
different and fresh every time they come in.
With furniture and other home decor available in the store,Cruz says the vignettes come alive
and actually highlight the lighting in
a more effective way.
“From the moment I stepped into
this showroom as manager, I knew
where I wanted to go with it,” Cruz says.
“I knew they had all of the right things in
terms of their product mix to make it a
truly beautiful space.”
With an experience center on the
horizon — allowing customers to see and
play with different can lighting/retrofits
in an application, undercabinet lighting,
experience the variance in different
color temperatures, play with different
switches by Adorne/LeGrand and
more — Coventry is excited to continue
to move onward and upward. But it also
is staying grounded in its community,
being involved in its local HBA chapter
and as a member of the Mahoning Valley
Historical Society, participating in events
throughout the year to connect and even
raise money for the community.
Cruz will be leaving the showroom and moving to Houston
with her family, but she’s grateful for her experience in Ohio.
“Coventry deserves to have the best of everything,” Cruz
says. “We are one-of-a-kind — a place that customers travel
to to visit. I brought in all of the things that would make their
jobs and their lives easier because we have such an amazing
showroom and staff.”28 | AUG.19 http://www.furniturelightingdecor.comSHOWROOM OF THE HO R YEAR WINNERS | 2019
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Under $2 Million
Coventry Lighting and Design Center
Canfi eld, OHCoventry Lighting
and Design Center’s
Michelle Cruz and
Rita Santon accept
the Under $2
Million Showroom
of the Year Award,
presented by
Furniture, Lighting
& Decor Publisher
Susan Jones (left)
and Editor-in-Chief
Diane Falvey (right).“We need systems in place
that make searching for
product easy, writing orders
quick and effi cient, and
looking up past orders
painless. These things matter
to consumers.”
— Michelle Cruz