Friday, November 7, 2008
New Yorkers Can Find Detailed Furniture Store Info on Yipit.com
New York's #1 Remodeling Directory, cityhammer.com, started with the idea that there really wasn't a simple way for New Yorkers to find helpful information about contractors and remodelers. Sure, there were generic Yellow Pages-ish websites, but we felt we could offer ratings, reviews and local information that would be more helpful than just a name, number and address (does anyone really need a painter's office address?).
We wanted to share with our readers a very special website that has launched with the same purpose but for a different market: Yipit.com, which has cataloged every furniture showroom and store in New York and offers users the ability to search for stores by style, room and price.
Having spent almost a year visiting, categorizing and organizing, The founders of Yipit are now ready for their close-up.
Below is a brief discussion I had with one of them, James Moran, including his reason for developing the site, what went into it and some advice for New Yorkers who are looking for furniture in New York.
What made you start Yipit.com?
We were inspired from our frustration with local search results.
Searching for most any product online was painful, and rarely returned a nearby
store. Sometimes we resorted to a handful of big-box retailers, other times we
would just buy online. No category was this more true for than furniture.
It has a wide diversity of products that are not searchable online.So
we thought a lot about the problem, and what would be required to enable
product-level furniture search. The solution was difficult, but surmountable -
visit every store and catalog the types of products they sell.
After a year spent in development, we were able to index every showroom
in Manhattan.
How much time have you spent cataloging all the stores and showrooms and how many do you have on the site?
We visited 2,050 potential locations, and found all 368 consumer facing
furniture showrooms in Manhattan - all of which are on Yipit. The catalogging
process took a month, though we spent nearly ten times that amount developing
the logistical processes necessary to manage the feat.
What do you think is the best advice for someone shopping for furniture
in the New York area?
If you have a general idea of what you're looking for, then I recommend
first searching online.
For used furniture, use craigslist. For new furniture, search in your
neighborhood on Yipit for the product, price and style you want. For
example: furniture new york, discount furniture new york, etc. Outside of
Manhattan, you should visit the IKEA in Brooklyn or New Jersey. We wrote a
New Yorker's guide to shopping at IKEA.
If you're looking for ideas for furniture items, I would leverage the
fabulous local shopping media, including Apartment
Therapy, Racked,New York Magazine, and Furnication (our blog).
These and a host of other niche publications provide showroom reviews,
sales announcements and even ideas for city living interior design that will get
you started.
If you're looking for ideas for furniture items, I would leverage the
fabulous local shopping media, including Apartment
Therapy, Racked,New York Magazine, and Furnication (our blog).
To check out Yipit.com, click here: Local Furniture Search Site
To read Furnication, Yipit's Blog, click here: Furnication Blog
Labels: Furniture Stores New York, New York Interior Design, NYC Furniture, Remodeling NY
