Taylor Road to represent New Zealand on world stage

Taylor Road to represent New Zealand on world stage

Take yourself back twenty years to the early 90s. In the depths of Australia’s Blue Mountains, nestled midst a national park, lay Taylor Road, a quaint village-styled street where neighbours were friends and friends were more like family. Every house was a home, warm and open. Children would flit through each property, stopping briefly for refreshments or supplies and recruiting numbers as they passed. Parents in pursuit would stop for a chat here or a cup of tea there. No one was rushed or stressed, a very happy place to live. To some this may sound like a fairy-tale, but to Anne and John Heng it was simply their past and the inspiration for their heavenly new homeware store, Taylor Road.

In October 2012, Taylor Road was awarded the New Zealand Global Innovation Award (GIA) 2012-2013 award for Innovation and Excellence in homewares retailing. The couple will travel to Chicago in March 2013, for the International GIA Awards, where they will represent New Zealand amongst the twenty-plus other national winners from around the globe. To meet the criteria in Retail Excellence required by the US governing body meant that Taylor Road had to excel in the innovation of all aspects of Homewares retailing from visual merchandising, web design, IT, store design through to staff involvement and customer service.

With the launch of a brand new online store and retail expansion the Manawatu retailer was primed for an award of this caliber. However the achievement still came as a surprise to the owners, who said, “although we see customers from all over the lower North Island, being recognised nationally was really incredible. To be competing at an International level is just unbelievable.”

It may be an astounding achievement for such a young store, but looking back at the rapid three-year evolvement of this homeware gem, it is likely the first of many exciting achievements. The store opened in November 2009 as one of three independent franchises of the iconic New Zealand homewares retailer Nest. When Nest went in to receivership in late 2010 the three independents joined forces to continue the sale of some of New Zealand’s much loved dinnerware shapes and other quality products under the group name Home Etc. Two years on, the Palmerston North store has undergone a massive expansion and refurbishment, tripling in floor space from the original Nest store. Now reopened as the independently-owned retailer Taylor Road, the name is one to watch. Partnering with major brands such as Wallace Cotton, TleafT and Ecoya, as well as their own range sourced from around the world, they have provided a quality shopping destination with a real point of difference.

The name and brand, Taylor Road, proposed and designed by Anne and John’s 22 year-old daughter Hannah, was selected to embody everything you could want in a home. As she says, “Taylor Road was where I grew up. It was my first home and to me it means family and the enjoyment of being surrounded by a beautiful home filled with beautiful people and beautiful memories. This is what we want people to feel when they are welcomed into our store.”

And welcomed you will be! A smile seems to be a permanent fixture on the faces of the lovely staff always willing to help or advice. The interior’s calming blue and green tones will help ease even the most tightly wound up folk, while wide isles have been established to allow for strollers, wheelchairs and even mobility scooters.

Taylor Road is a store for everyone and has something to ‘add a touch of beautiful to every room in your home’.
www.taylorroad.co.nz
ENDS

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