LYNN — Zimman’s, a high-end furniture and fabric store, has seen a lot of changes in the 110 years since it opened in Lynn. Its newest evolution is a reimagined third floor with a new store concept, which strives to appeal to a younger generation with a tighter budget.
The family-owned store has been in the Zimman family for four generations since Morris Zimman founded its first dry goods shop at 6 River St. in Lynn in 1909.
Despite an eye toward continued evolution, Zimman’s, which calls itself the largest fabric store in the country at 40,000 square feet, has largely remained traditional.
There’s no online shopping component and there are more than 50,000 fabrics in stock between the store’s first floor and basement. Most places don’t stock inventory in their stores anymore because it’s too expensive, according to Patty Forster, general manager and buyer for Zimman’s.
Located on Market Street, its third location since it opened, the store attracts Lynn residents but also the shopper from New York City who flies in for the day. Zimman’s has worked with movie sets, most recently “Little Women,” the latest adaptation of the classic novel which is being filmed in Massachusetts.
In its newest evolution, Zimman’s is trying to appeal to a younger generation, the kind that can’t or doesn’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a sofa.
To attract those customers, the store has reimagined its third floor as a new concept, Zon3, which held its grand opening on Sunday and offers upholstered furniture at a lower price than Zimman’s second floor, where more expensive brands of furniture are stocked.
“What we’ve done here is we’ve combined the taste level of what people expect from Zimman’s with also the value that they expect,” said Forster. “The reality is not everybody wants to spend $3,000 or $4,000 on a sofa or $3,000 on a coffee table or chandelier.
“We have many clients who do that and have historically done that, but we’re trying to open up our market to other clients. The people who shop up here will eventually, we’re hoping, will be the customers on the second floor.”
Often, the brand drives the price of furniture, which is similar to designer clothing brands making for more expensive apparel. On the second floor, for instance, furniture is more design-driven with pricier labels, Forster said.
There’s more of an engaging process on the second floor, as customers can choose to coordinate the furniture on that floor with any of the fabrics the store offers. That differs from Zon3, where furniture is limited to being covered with a trendier high-performance fabric, which she claims will resist stains and spills.
Despite the substantial difference in price between the second and third floor — a Zon3 sofa retails for an average of $1,700 — Forster argues the quality is very similar.
For Zon3, Forster said their new vendor is a small family business in North Carolina, but declined to identify the name, as today’s one-click world makes it easy for people to go online and find the resources Zimman’s is using.
Before Zon3, the third floor had been used as the store’s markdown floor for 18 years. The renovations were a “substantial investment,” Forster said, who declined to disclose the cost. Work included redoing the floors, fixing the lighting and hanging window treatments.
The new store concept was a year in the making with the finishing touches made last Thursday, when the last tags were placed on the third floor furniture.
“The feeling of this floor is it’s a little younger and it’s a little more colorful,” Forster said. “It could be the same clients purchasing furniture for either second homes or different rooms, but it could also be new clients who have never been able to shop here before.’
