Skagen Designs, the Reno-based watch company that's known around the world for its Danish-inspired design, will open a showroom in New York City next week.
The 2,700-square-foot showroom, the company's first outside of Reno, includes a gallery of Skagen products as well as a raised area that shows retailers how they can use Skagen's design concepts to create a selling environment in their own stores.
Skagen products are sold in major U.S.
department stores, in more than 2,000 specialty boutique stores nationwide and in 25 countries.
The products also are sold online at www.skagen.com.
The showroom also includes three conference rooms and a lounge where Skagen representatives will meet with retailers.
Skagen began showing its watches to retailers during New York market weeks 10 years ago out of a hotel suite, said Scott Szybala, the company's director of sales, marketing and merchandising.
He said the company looks to the new showroom to further boost its sales.
Like the company's year-old headquarters in south Reno, the 2,700-square-foot showroom reflects the Danish seaside resort town of Skagen, which is the inspiration for the company's products.
The open design, developed with lots of hands-on work with the company's top executives, incorporates seascapes to replicate the colors and feelings associated with the Danish town.
And Antoinette DeVore, the company's general manager, says the design of the New York showroom as well as the Reno headquarters got a lot of attention because the company believes the design elements tell customers about Skagen's corporate culture.
The showroom on Fifth Avenue directly across from the Empire State building marks a triumph for the company, which was launched 15 years ago over a kitchen table not too far away from the landmark.
Founders Henrik Jorst, at the time a marketing executive for the beer company Carlsberg International, emigrated from Denmark to New York City in 1989 with his wife, Charlotte.
Charlotte began designing watches and selling them under the Skagen name to corporations to distribute as gifts.
Within a couple of years, the watches were selling fast in boutiques in Manhattan and elsewhere.
Skagen moved to Nevada in 1993 after the Jorsts searched for a more tax-friendly environment for their fast-growing business.
