Everything must go.
The exotic offerings in-store at the Pangaea Collection’s Day Road warehouse are now heavily discounted (50 to 80 percent), as the Bainbridge-based home furnishing company prepares to close its brick-and-mortar showroom.
Owner Julian K. Byron, Jr. said that, though the location at 7861 NE Day Road West had not proved as popular as he had thought, the company at large would continue to specialize in procuring items for clients within the exotic aesthetic which had come to define the collection: antiques from Asia, handcrafted furnishings, found objects and reclaimed wood.
Pangaea was not just a single warehouse, he said, but they also identify the best overseas manufacturers and suppliers for clients, whether they wish to buy a single piece or a container’s worth of product.
Byron said he hopes to have the Bainbridge showroom closed on or around its two-year anniversary, June 1, a decision he and his wife made back in March.
“We kind of thought it would grow organically by being here and it just didn’t,” he said.
“Our original idea was to have this as a designer showroom, and we knew we were off the beaten track but we thought it would grow based on what we do.”
Byron has not ruled out reestablishing another showroom in a different location, as it had allowed customers to more fully experience the product.
“I personally think that it is very important,” Byron said. “Because if I want to buy a piece of furniture, I want to touch it. I want to feel it. I want to sit in the chair. I think people have a difficult time visualizing. So the nice thing about having this here is that we actually allowed people to take the pieces home and experience them in their own surroundings, and then bring them back if it doesn’t work.”
Byron spent almost two decades searching the markets and bazaars of Asia for unique pieces and artisan manufacturers. During those years, he developed extensive business relationships, and has established offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Vietnam and Thailand.
Products offered by Pangaea include artistic accessories (such as lamps and vases), bookshelves, buffets and sideboards, cabinets, desks, consoles and also dining, coffee and end tables, as well as numerous styles of chairs.
Along with the furniture wholesale business, Byron’s sourcing business, Pangaea Companies, which assists clients looking for overseas manufacturers, and his builder supply business, Atlas Industries, will continue to operate from Bainbridge Island.
Visit www.thepangaeacollection.com, www.facebook.com/pangaeacollection or call 206-780-1762 for more information.
