Lord & Taylor Home in Shrewsbury Opens to Large Crowds

A few weeks ago the parking lot was empty, just as it’s been for nearly three years since Linen N Things folded nationally, largely ceding the home goods retail outlet game to Bed Bath & Beyond.

On Saturday, customers drove around the parking lot in front of the previously vacant storefront in Shrewsbury Plaza looking for available spots, many of them unsuccessful on first and second pass. Linens N Things may be gone, but at least one company thinks the home goods competition isn’t.

Lord & Taylor is hoping to make inroads into the home goods market with the introduction of two Lord & Taylor home stores in New Jersey, including one in Shrewsbury, just miles away from its namesake department store in the Monmouth Mall, and, of course, a Bed Bath & Beyond. The two stores – the other opened about a month ago in Paramus – are a test of sorts, to see how the new concept, already well established in the retail market, will work.

Just hours into its grand opening, hundreds of customers crowded the home goods store, which at first glance looks remarkably like any Bed Bath & Beyond and Linen N Things you’ve ever entered, save, of course, for different signage. Along with the name, however, come some higher-end brands, and throughout the store employees were on hand providing demonstrations and personal service to customers looking for everything from bedding to a new coffee maker.

Though employees of the store declined to talk about the opening – a not so unique corporate policy prohibiting, apparently, store managers from making any positive comment about their store, brand, or products – the hundreds of costumers coming and going weren’t bound by the same restrictions.

The general consensus was mostly favorable, with minor quibbles about the store’s setup and items being remarkably similar to Bed Bath & Beyond, only without the discount.

“It is nice in there; there are a lot of nice things, but there weren’t any sales and it was kind of expensive,” Long Branch resident Francesca Fantini said. “If it stays expensive (shoppers) will go right back to Bed Bath & Beyond. There, you always have a 20 percent off coupon.”

Shannon Booth, also of Long Branch, agreed, but said that competition is good for the consumer. If Lord & Taylor Home starts making a dent in the sales of stores like Bed Bath & Beyond and Macy’s, it puts the pressure on those companies to offer better selection at better prices.

Though the new home goods store hasn’t announced any sales or discount strategies yet, many customers didn’t mind the price of the items, believing them to be higher quality than what can be found at other, similar outlets.

As he was loading a cart full of items into the back of his car, Jeff Barrie said he thinks there is a place in the market for another home goods store.

“I certainly think people will shop here. They have a nice selection, it’s convenient, and it seems like the merchandise is of a higher quality,” the Rumson resident said. “If they give good value, provide good selection and quality, there’s will always be room.”