At the heart of Manhattan

markilux with a showroom in the New York Design Center

The head office of markilux in North America has been located in downtown New York since autumn 2019. Last summer, the awning specialist put the finishing touches to its first showroom there in the New York Design Center on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. The location is ideal for the company because the Center is home to a number of top-class brands which attract customers with high purchasing power. It has not yet been possible to open it officially, but customers have been able to visit the showroom by appointment since August of last year.

‘Our subsidiary in the US is still in its infancy. Shortly after the new ‘markilux USA Incorporation’ was founded in 2019, we were given the chance to set up our head office in the New York Design Center,” says a delighted Klaus Wuchner, Director of Sales and Marketing. This outstanding location is the perfect place to make markilux known as a brand in the US, too, he explains.

Representative site at the heart of Manhattan

The historic building not far from Central Park in Manhattan has made a name for itself well beyond the confines of the city. Built in 1926, it was initially the city’s most well known address for top-class furniture. It then widened its horizons to include interior design as well as architecture, and in the early 1980s became the current, world-renowned New York Design Center. On 16 floors and more than 46,000 square metres, it is home to around 100 showrooms and more than 500 top-class brands from the world of living. According to Peer Cornelssen, Head of International Sales, these include designers, interior decorators and architects – a further target group in the sales process.

Establishing markilux as a premium brand

‘You can’t beat the central position. And once again we’ve found a very special building in which to present our products,” says Klaus Wuchner, something he feels is crucial in order to clearly establish the brand in the upper price segment. The location can be compared with Berlin or Hamburg where markilux has taken up a prestigious place in the ‘stilwerk” and where the showrooms also serve as open offices. On around 100 square metres in the New York Design Center, the awning manufacturer exhibits high-quality products and accessories, which consciously focus on end consumers with greater purchasing power.

Perfect time for a launch in New York

At the end of 2019, markilux was able to use its new location in New York for its first training sessions for specialist dealers. In addition, events in the building over the winter were able to attract a lot of visitors, something markilux was also able to benefit from. The company had planned an official opening for 2020 and was due to take part in various in-house events, all of which were put a stop to by the pandemic. ‘Our showroom was finished in July 2020, and from August onwards, visitors were able to drop in by appointment. We also had a virtual tour of the premises on offer. Although that can never hope to replace the live experience,” admits Peer Cornelssen. Depending on the coronavirus situation, however, an official opening is still being planned, although when exactly that will be is unclear. Therefore, for the time being, customers have to make an appointment and cannot just drop in spontaneously. ‘However, we are hoping that the situation will improve over the course of the year and that we will then also be able to develop and expand the American market,” says an optimistic Mr Cornelssen. When things return to normal, the company is planning to hold further training sessions for specialist dealers and dedicated events for architects, and is also looking forward to take part in the in-house events of the Design Center.

For further information, please visit: markilux.com

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markilux stands for 'Design Made in Germany', innovative new products and excellent quality in the exterior solar protection sector. Since 1972 folding-arm awnings, conservatory awnings and vertical blinds have been produced at its manufacturing facility in Emsdetten, northern Germany. The high-quality products are distributed by professional partners in Germany and abroad. About 1,000 selected companies assure the high qualitative standards during the assembly of the awnings.

This release was published on openPR.