Sarah Jacobs
At Pirch, you can test various showerheads with just the swipe of an iPad.
Pirch is redefining what it means to try before you buy. The startup
retail company just opened a massive new store in SoHo, Manhattan's most shopping-centric neighborhood, and it's packed with fun, interactive gadgets.
The gimmick: All of the home appliances and fixtures that Pirch sells actually work in the store, so you can experience them firsthand and imagine them in your own home. The refrigerators are chilled, the faucets and showerheads run water, the ovens beep, and the washers wash.
Pirch was co-founded in 2009 by two formerly retired executives in the home and real estate development business, CEO Jeffery Sears and chairman Jim Stuart. Both men had similarly terrible experiences trying to buy home fixtures and appliances. In 2011, they opened the first Pirch store in San Diego. Later, they would open eight more across the country.
Pirch offers a completely different shopping experience. Let's take a tour through its brand-new SoHo location, which was built in an old metalworks building. It's one of the biggest stores in the neighborhood, and the company's largest location yet.