A destination for quality furniture in Chesapeake has entered a unique partnership and added a new product gallery to its 60,000 square foot showroom and warehouse located in the Great Bridge area. Esprit Decor Home Furnishings celebrated its 38th anniversary with a ribbon cutting event for the grand opening of its Bassett Benchmade Gallery on September 30. Members of the media and special guests, including Chesapeake Mayor Rick West, joined representatives of Esprit Décor and Bassett—headquartered in Bassett, Virginia—at the event.
Esprit Décor recently became the exclusive Bassett furniture dealer in the Coastal Virginia region following store closings in Virginia Beach and Newport News. While the store has had a long-running partnership with Bassett, the new gallery puts Bassett’s high-end products such as custom upholstery, headboards, ottomans, solid wood bedroom and dining room furniture, and reclining sofas and chairs, under the umbrella of Bassett Benchmade, explains Esprit Décor owner Rick Christian. It also adds their Carolina Collection and oak pieces to their Benchmade solid wood. “The addition of the Benchmade Gallery really just solidifies our commitment to each other,” Christian says.
For furniture buyers in Coastal Virginia, the move offers not only expanded options for interior design but potentially quicker access to American-made craftmanship as the global supply chain continues to be strained. “What Bassett brings to the table for the ultimate consumer is shorter lead times than other companies and quality products made in the U.S.,” says Christian. “Countries like Vietnam are shutting down completely to handle the pandemic and there will be big gaps in product availability in the first quarter of 2022…With the majority of Bassett being made domestically the customer that chooses Bassett will be less affected.”
Esprit Décor, with a mission of “delivering quality home furnishings to the Hampton Roads region at affordable prices,” traces its roots to 1972 with Scrimshaw Studio, a home-based design firm founded by Sally Christian. That led to the creation of Esprit Decor Home Furnishings in 1983. The company is currently run by Sally's daughter, Beth, and two sons, Mark and Ricky, along with several third-generation family members.
Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc. is known as is a leading manufacturer and marketer of high-quality home furnishings with nearly 100 company- and licensee-owned stores in the U.S. Bassett also has a traditional wholesale business with more than 700 accounts on the open market, across the United States and internationally and a logistics business specializing in home furnishings.