RETAIL / LEISURE : New Barker Bros. Store an Attempt to Combat Stuffy Image

Hoping to capture more younger buyers, Barker Bros. is betting that its new furniture store in South Coast Plaza Village in Santa Ana will serve as a model for the rest of the chain.

The 40,000-square-foot store will group furniture by style, rather than room. Hence, a couple who want to decorate their house in a French Colonial style will find an entire area devoted to the style, instead of having to look through rows of bedrooms, or rows of dining rooms, to find what they want.

Also, the new store will have a lighter and airier feeling. When it officially opens March 1, it will be a place where a customer “can sit down and feel comfortable,” said Jerry Balest, a vice president for the 11-store Barker Bros. chain based in Pasadena.

Or, to borrow a line from Oldsmobile, this is not your father’s Barker Bros. The chain is trying to combat its stuffy image in an effort to attract more youthful customers.

For the village, stepchild of mega-successful South Coast Plaza across Sunflower Avenue, the new tenant could revitalize the center and fills a building left vacant for several years since the Orange County Fashion Institute departed.