Marchand’s Interior and Hardware is expanding its Gonzales campus with a new warehouse, an enlarged flooring showroom and a drive-through pickup service designed to make home renovation projects easier for customers. The family-owned retailer expects to open its new warehouse and “project pickup ” service this summer, while the showroom expansion is targeted for completion by the end of the year, according to Jake Robinson of Marchand’s. The expansion centers on reorganizing the company’s operations, moving inventory into a newly constructed warehouse and converting former storage areas into additional showroom space. The company’s new warehouse will total 12,783 square feet, while the expanded showroom will be 3,600 square feet. Marchand’s did not disclose the project cost. “The biggest part of this expansion is project pickup,” Robinson says. “Our vision is to be the home center that completes projects by offering materials, design, and installation in one place. With our new project pickup drive-thru, we want to make picking up materials faster and easier than anywhere else so customers can get in, get what they need and get back to their projects.” Construction on the warehouse began last summer. Beyond adding space, the company says the investment is intended to simplify the shopping experience for homeowners tackling renovation projects. “The main goal of it is to make it easier on the customers,” Robinson says. “When most people come to buy floors or remodel, 95% of the time they don’t know where to start. The main goal is to make it easier for the customers, to make it a more free-flowing process.” The new layout is also expected to improve day-to-day operations by centralizing inventory and streamlining order fulfillment. Marchand’s hopes to complete the showroom expansion between September and November, with the overall project finished before year-end. Whitney Marchand built Marchand’s Floor Shop in Gonzales in 1949. It has since evolved and grown over the years to now encompass four departments. Flooring, Hardware, and Kitchen Bath operate as Marchand’s Interior and Hardware in the original location. Framing is now located across the street at the Framing Décor Gallery.  ...read more read less