In the Grove

Two brothers combine their dreams into a California design showplace.

By Eliza Gallo, Gifts and Dec., June 2000

B

eau and Thompson Lange, two brothers who had been raised on California's Monterey Peninsula, were taking time out from their less-than-satisfying jobs one afternoon. Sitting by a lake, Thompson pondered his career as a set designer for TV shows in New York, and Beau thought about his job as a manager at a small Seattle company. Thompson asked Beau what his dream career move would be. The answer--to start a small business in the Monterey area--struck a chord with both men, who began to envision a store that would sell upscale furnishings and artwork as well as plants and flowers. At first, the two were nervous about sharing their dream with their father, Thomas Finklang, afraid that he wouldn't understand. But Thomas not only approved but offered to help. "If that's what you want to do," he said, "you should go for it. And you shouldn't waste any time. Dreams have ways of slipping away." Accordingly, Beau enrolled in a horticulture program, started working for a plantscaping company, and began scouting locations for their business. In January 1994, the family purchased a former laundry building in downtown Pacific Grove. Built in 1927 for the Grove Laundry, the structure presented more than a few challenges: It was condemned, massive, and downright ugly. In part because of the enormity of the task, the renovation, which began immediately, lasted until the very day of 'The Grove Homescapes' opening in December 1996. Construction meant gutting the inside of the building and digging down under it to put in a basement, a parking area, and new pilings to support the structure. The family also added residential apartments for Beau and Thompson as part of the building's third floor.

THE DARK SIDE OF MAYBERRY

All this construction triggered an additional problem for the family: negative community reaction. Some of the neighbors bristled at the noise and upheaval, and others opposed the project because they were afraid that it would create parking shortages in the neighborhood. Thompson feels that his was a particularly small-town phenomenon: "The Mayberry thing isn't always about everybody smiling," he pointed out. "We understood what was making them unhappy, but at the same time, our position was, well, unless the city buys this and makes it into a park, somebody's going to buy it and...it's going to have some traffic." The family tackled the objections with a mixture of diplomacy and practical concessions. "We were listening to them. ... We added these garages into the building, and that was actually very expensive to do," Thompson said. He also feels that the community objections stemmed from fears that a large outside developer was responsible for the project. As Beau and Thompson started to settle into the community and volunteer for things, the neighbors realized that they weren't dealing with outsiders and warmed up considerably. Now the family was able to turn its full attention to polishing the store's design. Inspired by the buildings in the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco, Thompson had decided to add an apartment vestibule, a loggia, and an extra story to cerate the look of a grand 1920's emporium. Thompson's experience as a set designer proved invaluable in creating an upscale, historic-looking building on a budget. By acting as their own contractors, and simply hiring construction supervisors, Thompson, Beau, and Thomas were able to buy materials at a contracting price without a mark-up. Thompson applied the "tricks" he had learned during his undergraduate and graduate training in set design at UCLA. For instance, all of the moldings on the exterior and the interior of the building are made of polystyrene foam. this cost-cutting measure is sometimes adopted by stores like K-Mart, but Thompson pointed out that those types of stores tend to use generic foam moldings, which look fake. "The goal with us was to design some traditional styles, so that people assume when they're looking inside that they're looking at plaster moldings," he said, offering a final tip on foam pieces: "I always recommend to people to not just order from a catalog. The companies will cut your own design if you give them a design. It makes it a nicer, more special place."

GROVE AND GARDEN

When The Grove Homescapes opened in December 1996, customers were treated to the elegant central Atrium Gallery, which is the focal point of the colonnaded furniture display area. A sweeping staircase leads up to the mezzanine, where gift items, orchids, and galleries filled with local art are located. Off the Atrium Gallery is the Flower Room, which contains more flora. And, in a truly distinctive touch, the 6,500-square-foot interior selling space is supplemented by a 2,500-square-foot garden area on the side of the building. there, a Victorian-style conservatory full of orchids presides over the plantscaping portion of the business. In The Grove Homescapes' first few years, the family offered the store and garden as a venue for special events and weddings. However, after holding Thomas Finklang's remarriage at The Grove Homescapes in 1998, they decided that weddings and the like were prohibitively time-consuming, requiring extensive set-up and take-down. Now they confine themselves to hosting charity events like cancer fundraisers and AIDS auctions. As one might imagine from its grand, arresting appearance, The Grove Homescapes is a big hit with customers. Its philosophy of furnishing complete "home environments" has paid off, to the tune of more that $1 million a year each year since it opened. Revenues have been increasing by 15 to 20 percent a year, with 1999's take standing at roughly $1.25 million.

BRANCHING OUT

This success inspired Beau, Thompson, and Thomas to open a second store in October 1999, in downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea. The popular tourist town is now home to Homescapes, Carmel, a 5,000-square-foot store located in a former bank building. Under 35-foot ceilings, the trio displays furnishings and decorative accessories. The visitors to Carmel make for a very different clientele than the Victoriana-obsessed residents of Pacific Grove, so Thompson has been able to indulge his interest in contemporary furniture.

While the garden area is the distinctive feature of the Pacific Grove store, the Carmel store stands out for its art gallery in the old bank vault, complete with the original pneumatic door, concrete walls, and emergency ventilator. Described excitedly by Thompson as "very, very cool and really dramatically lit," the vault art gallery elicits both amusement and admiration from patrons. "You have to give them something that will stick in their minds," Thompson advised. "So that's our gimmick over here." Encouraged by the success of the new store, Thompson, Beau, and Thomas are still busy dreaming. "We're relatively new still, but we hope someday to expand and get more stores," Thompson said. "We'd have the Homescapes Carmel, Homescapes Santa Barbara, Homescapes Palo Alto..." If all goes well, the trio will have turned one small lakeside dream into not only a reality, but an empire.