Richmond, Va., grand opening to be first of six new stone centers
RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 16, 2007 – Luck Stone’s Architectural Stone Division, one of the largest natural stone suppliers in the Mid-Atlantic, is launching a new concept within the stone industry to create a unique customer experience built on tailored customer service and high-quality products. The concept includes new studios meant to spur design ideas and a process that ensures that associates will work one on one with customers to satisfy their stone needs.
The capstone of a transformation in the way that stone is marketed and sold, the first new Charles Luck Stone Center will open on Friday in Richmond, Va. The Studio – one of the main components of the Center and part stone design center, part stone library and part stone laboratory – has been designed to provide design inspiration and information about stone in a distinctive and creative environment. The Richmond Charles Luck Stone Center, near Luck Stone Corporation headquarters, is the first of six locations planned for the Mid-Atlantic region – others will be re-branded in Sterling and Charlottesville, Va., Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., and Columbia, Md.
“Our company first introduced a retail concept to the stone industry in 1976 when we opened the first ‘supermarket for stone,’” said Charles Luck IV, president and chief executive officer of Luck Stone Corporation. “Today, the Charles Luck brand is evolving the stone industry again – this time by embracing the history, beauty and allure of stone while creating a unique destination for individuals who appreciate aesthetic design. The Charles Luck Stone Center will focus on encouraging creativity, exploring innovation and helping consumers acquire the stone that best captures the spirit and essence of each building project.”
As part of this transformation, Luck Stone’s Architectural Stone Division now will be known as Charles Luck Stone Center.
The Charles Luck Stone Center: Built for Varying Customer Needs and Ideas
The Charles Luck Stone Center, comprised of the Studio (showcasing hundreds of products), a Contractor Yard (focusing on the needs of Charles Luck’s contractors and partners) and a Workshop (reshaping products to meet customers’ needs), has been designed from the ground up to anticipate the needs of various audiences who work with stone: architects, interior designers, homeowners, masons, landscapers and builders. Each customer will encounter a unique experience based on his or her own background, objectives and particular tastes and preferences.
“Because each of our customers is as different as the hundreds of kinds of stones we carry from around the world, we will now strive to make their customer experience just as unique,” said Mark Fernandes, president of Charles Luck. “Our new fulfillment processes reflect our desire to adapt to each customer’s needs.”
At the Studio, architects, interior designers and homeowners will experience a place where they can collaborate with dedicated Charles Luck associates in order to determine the stone that best fits the desired function and aesthetics of the project. The Studio itself serves as inspiration: The bathroom features a custom design using stones formed with a water-jet cut for a tight fit; the sandstone fireplace complements the surrounding floor demonstrating a stone-planking design; and a stone wall running through the Studio showcases how Pennsylvania sandstone from two quarries can feature a veining effect or a more solid coloring.
“As a collaborative partner with our customers, the ‘why’ is very important to us,” Fernandes said. “We see ourselves as purveyors of fine stone, as a source of knowledge, but we cannot provide that knowledge to the fullest extent unless we fully understand our customers’ needs and situations: ‘Why do they want to put in a patio? What about that stone wall that they came across in Italy do they truly admire? What kind of setting do they like to relax in?’ It’s only after answering these kinds of questions that we can help guide them toward the stone materials that achieve the desired artistry and utility.”
The Contractor Yard, the second customer focus of the Charles Luck Stone Center and the element on which Luck Stone has built its business, caters to contractors looking for a partner in the stone industry. Its dedicated staff focuses on speed, safety and efficiency to help contractors meet their business needs, and Charles Luck offers a breadth and depth of inventory meant to match the needs of any job. Aside from serving contractors, the Contractor Yard helps fulfill requests from homeowners and interior designers who appreciate seeing and shopping for stone in an authentic setting.
The Workshop, the final focus area of the Charles Luck Stone Center, is where the stone is crafted from raw product. Here, customers can take a tour that gives them greater insight into what happens before a stone becomes part of their home or project. As customers see stone craftsmen at work, they also can witness the passion that Charles Luck associates have for the product as they help shape it into an art form for a specific installation.
The Charles Luck Stone Center: High Quality, Unique Products, Rich Heritage
French limestone: It has been used in Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral and in the lobby of New York’s Empire State Building. Labradorite, which is commonly used for countertops and is sourced from Canada’s Labrador province, is extracted in large blocks, sawed into slabs and polished, unleashing its light-reflecting properties. Eskimo legend has it that the Northern Lights were once imprisoned in this rock. These are just two of the hundreds of stone samples on display at the Charles Luck Stone Center as part of its three distinct product lines:
“Our digging starts with airline tickets as we travel the world to find stones from places like South America, Italy and China to meet our customers’ needs,” Fernandes said. “When customers see a stone that inspires them, we will bring it back to them to be a part of their home design, even if it is not already part of our existing product lines.”
The Charles Luck Stone Center: Explore, Discover, Create
The opening today of the Richmond, Va., Charles Luck Stone Center is the first of six locations to undergo a complete transformation with a new Studio and Contractor Yard over the next three to four years. Other locations, now open to the public, will undergo construction in Sterling and Charlottesville, Va., Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., and Columbia, Md. The redesigned Workshops to service the entire division will be located in Richmond and Northern Virginia.
The Charles Luck Stone Center embodies the new Charles Luck brand, a brand that builds on generations-old family traditions that date to 1923 when Charles S. Luck Jr. founded the Richmond, Va.-based company. The division’s new identity reflects the essence of the customer experience, wherein clients are invited to Explore, Discover and Create a stone project that captures their character, sensibilities and style.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
About Charles Luck Stone Center and Luck Stone Corporation
The Charles Luck Stone Center, comprised of a Studio, Contractor Yard and Workshop, is a destination for design inspiration and information about stone in a distinctive environment. At the Charles Luck Stone Center, which launched Sept. 2007 in Richmond, Va., and will open as fully re-branded locations across the Mid-Atlantic in the next three to four years, the customer experience is marked by tailored customer service for architects, interior designers, homeowners, masons, landscapers and builders; hundreds of stone products from around the world; and unparalleled expertise from purveyors of fine stone. The Charles Luck Stone Center is a division of Luck Stone Corporation, one of the largest private, family owned and operated aggregates suppliers in the United States. Luck Stone Corporation is based in Richmond, Va. Learn more about Charles Luck at www.CharlesLuck.com.