The Wayfair Wilmette store has finally opened in the Chicagoland area at Edens Plaza and I know you are just eager to know if the hype is really worth it!
I went to the store to scope the place out and to give you a detailed review on whether the place is really worth your time and money when it comes to anything home related!
If you have no idea what Wayfair is, let me explain! It is basically an online furniture store specializing in selling furniture, home goods and decor items. Their online store as a HUGE variety of furniture, lighting, kitchen and dining items, bed/bath, rugs, home improvement, pets, garden/outdoor etc! They offer branded items as well like Joss & Main, AllModern, Birch Lane, Perigold.
First off, I’m a huge Wayfair fan. I own lots of pieces from them from my bed frame, to table lamps, to my closet organizer… check out this post here if you would like a tour of my bedroom to see these pieces. I’ve had good luck with Wayfair furniture items and they have lasted me quite a long time. I’d say the prices have always been reasonable and they always have sales on the site.
To preface, it is like IKEA, in that you have to build your own furniture pieces together… however, from my experience, the directions are VERY easy to follow as someone who is not very handy, and I’ve not had any issues with any of the items falling apart. If building items is not your cup of tea, they also offer a handyman service where a handyman will come to your home and build the items for you which is very convenient.
Now, onto the actual Wayfair storefront. It is nice that NOW there is a Wayfair storefront to see all these pieces that are available to purchase in person especially if you were on the fence purchasing from the website! You get to see the quality of the items and see if they could really fit well into your own home.
Some of the perks of the storefront include… getting advice from “design experts” in the various hubs along the floors for those who are stumped on the endless options that they have! And endless….I mean GOSH. They had SO many options to choose from whether it was from tiles, faucets, cabinetry, door handles…etc (pictures to come).
They also have a dream mattress center where you can try out the various types of mattresses that they have to offer (I did not get a picture of this unfortunately!). They had SO many mattress options to choose from!
The store is very nicely designed (as you can see with the pictures) where it has two levels (similar to Ikea). The first floor features living room, indoor faux plants, candles, area rugs, closet organization. The second floor features bathroom, kitchen, pets, outdoor, kids, and lighting/lamps. There is also a cafe located on the first floor called The Porch which has breakfast, sandwiches, pastries, coffees, teas etc. It was pretty packed the day I went, so unfortunately, I was not able to try the cafe out. The cafe had lots of seating options indoors and also outdoors which is nice for the summer months!
I tried to get pictures to capture the essence of each type of layout they had but I did not get to capture EVERYTHING as there are SO many items they brought out. I’d even say that anything and everything that you see on the Wayfair website is probably sold at the store—-definitely NOT limited to say the least!
I categorized it into various areas of the home with pictures—alright here we go!
LIVING ROOM AREA:
Of course, they had living room simulations with all the kinds of furniture you need from this..coffee table, sofas, decor, decorative pillows..all for sale! They had so many options for coffee table decor, mirrors, loveseats etc! I would have loved to see more options for TV stands though!
This gold accented coffee table with these accent chairs look super nice!
BEDROOM AREA:
Bedroom simulations as well….
KIDS BEDROOM
One of my favorite areas was the kids area! I wish I had gotten more pictures in this area but they had SO many options like bunk beds, cribs, twin beds, kids furniture items in so many cute and fun colors! A great place to look if you are looking to redo your kids bedroom.
KITCHEN
They sell every kind of refrigerator, ovens, stovetops! Even smart refrigerators!
I didn’t get any pictures of these, but they also had washer/dryer units in this area, wine coolers,
DINING AREA
BATHROOM
Probably one of the more unique things about this Wayfair store is that you can literally try out the sink faucets and shower heads (as in see how the water flows out of them–this was pretty cool!!)
You press the button at the white counter of your chosen shower head, and the shower head will turn on!
OUTDOOR
Super cute faux plant and bushes for privacy! Great for those who do not want to commit to the real thing and also want to add a bit of privacy from your neighbors! This was nice as you can actually see the quality of these items which is pretty hard to depict on the site. They were reasonably priced and look pretty realistic in my opinion!
Of course, endless options of outdoor furniture, lounge chairs, privacy fences, outdoor plants. In addition, they had outdoor lighting options for your porch, front yard or backyard. You name it! They also had grills available, and outdoor games!
PETS
I was always interested in the pet category on the Wayfair website so I was excited to see this being incorporated into the storefront! This area mostly consisted of cat trees, dog beds, and dog crates! I feel like there are more options sold on the website than the store but I’m sure this area will expand with time!
MISCELLANEOUS
This just deserves it’s own category as there was a lot of random things! Kitchen utensils, pots/pans, candles, baskets, towels, bed sheets, comforters, closet organizers/hangers, literally EVERYTHING you NEED!
An endless assortment of tile options–they had some pretty unique and beautiful patterns! They had about two or three different sections for these tile patterns! You basically order these by square footage and if you are not sure, you can order a sample of these to see if it’s a best fit for your bathroom or other tiling needs!
So many faux plants and flowers GALORE! These can look very beautiful on your kitchen counter or even on your front porch!
They also had some really cute front door wreaths–lots of great ones for summer like ones with lemons and greenery (not pictured).
Area rugs of various sizes!!–SO many different colors and patterns. They also had larger area rugs rolled out that were on display as well!—every color and pattern of your choosing and most of them are shown on the website!
And different lamps, floor lamps, and ceiling fans of your choosing! They also had some of the big box appliances like Dyson, Cuisinart, and Ninja.
Every item had a QR code which logged you into the Wayfair website or App. You have option to purchase online or you can pick it up at the store if it was in stock!
In regards to pricing…I’d say that they are pretty aligned with what is on the website. I’d say Wayfair offers a very wide range of products from very affordable to high-end luxury pieces. Some items are way too expensive for what they are (decorative pillows, wicker baskets, some of the larger furniture items).Their prices are pretty competitive with other major online furniture retailers like Amazon, IKEA, and Overstock. However, with some specific items, you might find better deals elsewhere.
However, they do deals and sales ALL THE TIME. I think that’s what is very like-able about Wayfair. For example, it’s Memorial Day Weekend right now, Wayfair is doing a sale for 70% right now which is pretty freakin’ great!
Another unique and neat factor I liked about the storefront was that they had very large tablets of the Wayfair website displayed around the store which is nice for customers! You can look up your item you’re interested in purchasing or you can get familiar with the site itself! Makes sense as this is an online furniture retailer!
I hope this gave you some idea of what the new Wayfair store is like! As this is close to opening day, it was VERY busy and sort of hard to navigate around with the crowd. I assume it’ll get less busy as the weeks go by. And if you do not live in the Midwest and feel like you are missing out, do not worry!! Like mentioned, basically anything you can get in the store is on the site and Wayfair does an AMAZING return policy if you do not like what you ordered.
Like mentioned previously, this Wayfair store is located in Wilmette, IL. This is the only Wayfair furniture store that is available in the U.S however hopefully they will expand to different areas of America and even overseas! I’d say have a chance to go and look around and enjoy some food/drink at the Porch while you’re at it!
