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When the coronavirus pandemic struck, businesses the nation over were shaken to their core. And while the reverberations no doubt continue, this economic earthquake has hit restaurants and retail spaces particularly hard. For members of the design community, this thought may bring to mind the jewel-box business of one of their own: La Mercerie and the Roman and Williams Guild—the dual Howard Street venture opened by AD100 designers Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch at the tail end of 2017.
“At first, it was a terrifying thing because we’ve rented this gigantic store,” Standefer says to AD PRO of those first mid- to late-March weeks. Standefer isn’t, however, one to give up without a fight—particularly, it seems, where her employees’ jobs are concerned. It’s that line of thinking that led Standefer and Alesch to launch Virtually Yours, a new digital design service available for decorators and average consumers alike. The program, which is currently available for use free of charge, taps into the well of talent that is the Guild’s talented store staff, making those individuals design consultants who can advise on product purchases.
“A lot of this was born out of wanting to keep our team on,” Standefer explains. “This beautiful group of people have been with us since we opened. And that’s pretty unusual. When this hit—when the store and the restaurant closed—I just thought, Oh, my God, I just can’t let these people go.” Soon after, Standefer and Alesch got to thinking: Why not train the Guild’s staff to do some of the client-facing work they are so used to? After all, while the individuals in question might not be interior designers by training, they have a deep level of aesthetics-based knowledge that’s been built up over the years. (When reached later via email, Clayton Moore, director of retail and sales at the Guild, emphasizes that all of the employees are “passionate about helping people bring integrity and character to their spaces.”)
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Virtually Yours succeeds in tapping into additional aspects of the Guild’s origins story and projected future as well. Part of the reason Standefer and Alesch started the business in the first place was to make the Roman and Williams brand accessible to more people than just their own private clients. Before COVID-19, they had begun to notice just how many customers coming in weren’t New York–based, and were instead from places like California, Paris, and Japan. Fittingly, this new digital venture will allow the Guild’s reach to extend more broadly. “It was really almost like a eureka moment,” Standefer says of the decision to launch. “I don’t want to make the store the only way that people can connect with us.”
Looking down the road a couple years into the future, Standefer thinks that Virtually Yours will still have an important role to play. Frequent travelers in normal times, Standefer and Alesch see a world in which designers such as themselves are able to use the program while perched in airport lounges and on the go. While it does seem conceivable that the service might not always be completely free, when it comes to members of the trade, Standefer emphasizes that they’re “trying to be as accommodating as possible” in making in-situ product stagings still come to life.
Moreover, Virtually Yours isn’t the only news that the duo has to share: La Mercerie has been reopened for outdoor dining, and the Guild itself is in fact open to visit on a by-appointment basis. “I believe luxury needs an extra level of privacy,” Standefer says when asked how exactly they’ve been adapting the space to make such appointments safe. Her opinion resonates. After all, it’s not too difficult to imagine fashion, design, and hospitality businesses around the world beginning to think this exact same way. More specifically, the Guild is going beyond standard practices, thinking creatively about hand washing, regularly sanitizing objects, and even—in the case of clients referred to the store by fellow AD100 designer Nate Berkus—welcoming them with custom masks.
With all these changes, the Roman and Williams principals have understandably been under a fair amount of stress. “It’s just been really intense,” Standefer says. But at the end of the day, their focus continues to come back to supporting their own employees: “Really, it’s about them,” she reflects. A moment later, she adds that when it comes to the Guild, “They’re its heart and soul.”
