Homescapes hits its stride in Carmel

The already successful P.G. store expands with new Carmel outlet

Herald Staff Report

The Grove Homescapes, the 2-1/2 year-old “home environments” store in Pacific Grove, has proven so popular its owners are opening a second store in the vacant Great Western Bank building in Carmel.

The new store, Homescapes, Carmel, is set to open October 1st. Co-owner and Chief Financial Officer Tom Finklang said they're doing as much as they can, as quickly as they can, to make the building look less like a bank and more like a store. “But we're keeping the vault,” he said with a smile. “We're hoping we'll need it.”

The Grove Homescapes opened in December 1996 in the converted Grove Laundry building at 472 Lighthouse Avenue. It was the first venture into retail for owners Tom Finklang and his sons, Beau and Thompson Lange.
Their home environments store combines custom furniture with antiques, hand crafted items, art by local artists, interior plants, orchids and flowers.

The store was an immediate success – after its first year The Grove Homescapes became one of Pacific Grove's top businesses.

“Within one year of operation they were among the Top 40 revenue producers in the city,” said Moe Ammar, president of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce. Being in the Top 40 means generating at least $1.1 million in sales, he said.

“They are the best community oriented business people.” Ammar added. They host functions for youth and non-profits. "I think they will do well in Carmel."

Lange, who serves as Homescapes' buyer, said: “It's been a weird roller-coaster ride for the last five years. When we were remodeling the Laundry, we were the laughing stocks of Pacific Grove. Beau and I couldn't go anywhere without people asking us: ‘When are you boys going to finish that thing?' Then when we opened Homescapes we got a lot of advice about how it would make a better restaurant than a store.”

With their success perceptions have changed and the men quickly found themselves leaving Pacific Grove to travel through Asia and the Mid East looking for items to ship home.

“We had three containers on the water before we even had space to process them,” said Beau Lange, general manager. To handle their imported product the family opened a warehouse in the former Granary Market on Central. “The Granary was a great first stop for us,” said Beau. “It was just down the street and had a lot of space for displaying all the inventory waiting to come over to Homescapes.”

“We underestimated the amount of interest the warehouse would generate,” said Tom Finklang. “We didn't want another fully-staffed store in the same town as our main store, but our customers were always wanting to get into the warehouse to look around.”

Meanwhile, the Great Western Bank building in Carmel had changed hands and there was a cool reception to the Long's Drug store originally proposed for the site. With its more than 4,000 square feet and large parking lot, it was larger than the Granary and ideal for a Homescapes.

Beau Lange was already familiar with the building. “I worked my way through MPC as an interior plantscaper and the Great Western Bank was one of my accounts,” he said. “I was friends with a lot of the staff and they were always very friendly with me. Opening a store in that building immediately seemed like an exciting way to come full circle.”

The warehouse store at the former Granary will close September 30. Ammar said a number of potential tenants have already looked at the site, including a shoe store, grocer, furniture store and fitness center.

The family has been gratified by the friendliness and enthusiasm they've encountered as word got out about the move. “People have been dropping by every day to welcome us,” says Thompson Lange as he and Beau work on preparing the Great Western Bank building for the Homescapes, Carmel opening. “It's been very encouraging and very refreshing to get this kind of reaction.”

The brothers have a long history in Carmel. Their family moved from Pacific Grove when they were still young enough to go to Carmel Woods School (now the Stevenson School), and Lange is currently refurbishing their childhood home.

“It's strange to be back on a street where the neighbors still remember me as their paperboy,” said Thompson. Next month he celebrates his 20-year reunion with the Carmel High School Class of '79. “The last time I saw any of those kids I was a candy cook at Mrs. M's Fudge behind the Mediterranean Market,” Lange said. “And let me tell you, I'm glad my days of newsprint and peanut brittle are behind me.”

Beau said Homescapes, Carmel is hedging its bets somewhat, with a short-term lease. "If it works out, we'll have a long-term lease," he said.