ONTARIO, Calif. — CalExotics welcomed customers, industry colleagues and press to its new state-of-the-art facility yesterday, where attendees were invited to tour the expansive building and were treated to food, drinks and giveaways.
The foyer of CalExotics’ new headquarters was transformed into the party’s venue with tables, chairs, and decorations that reflected the brand’s recent revamp. Outside, CalExotics hosted a barbeque and brought the My Delight Cupcakery food truck while a DJ played the latest pop tunes. Attendees included local and international distributors and retailers, including Williams Trading, Honey's Place, ECN, and Pink Cherry, among several others, who were led on a tour of the facility by Susan Colvin, president and CEO of CalExotics.
The first stop on the tour was the new JOPEN showroom, which is on the building’s first floor, near the entrance.
“We wanted it to have a separate feel because JOPEN is our mainstream brand,” Colvin said. “Now our customers can come here for trainings. Our goal is to accommodate as many people as possible.”
Among the open house attendees was SB Books, a retailer from Santa Barbara, Calif., that brought its staff for training.
“We’ll have 20 more people tomorrow in our facility for training,” Colvin said.
In addition to its JOPEN showroom, CalExotics also has a separate showroom for its full range of brands. The CalExotics showroom is designed like a retail store with a section in the back dedicated to its more hardcore lines, including Vivid Raw and COLT.
With sports memorabilia decorating the walls throughout the various offices of CalExotics, Colvin led attendees through the facility introducing the employees of each department.
Colvin pointed out that CalExotics’ in-house art department is now housed in the same office as the product development and private labeling team.
“Everything is in-house now,” Colvin said. “We’re excited that we can all work together and build unity.”
According to Colvin, with a bigger facility, CalExotics was able to expand its staff, and added new visual merchandisers who will travel store to store providing merchandising support. Colvin noted that although they’ll be on the road most of the time, visual merchandisers have an office located across the hall from its sales department.
CalExotics’ massive new warehouse is stocked from floor to ceiling with product organized on several rows of racks that appear to go on for miles. Colvin told attendees that the company monitors productivity in its warehouse with monthly tracking that gauges each employee’s contribution.
“We give bonuses based on productivity and this way it’s not arbitrary,” she said.
After a lunchtime barbeque, Colvin and CalExotics Vice President Jackie White stood over the balcony above the foyer and raffled off several prizes, including gift cards, iPads, and Apple Watches. Among the winners was Deja Vu’s Megan Swartz.
“This is the best set up that I’ve seen,” Swartz told XBIZ. “It’s bigger and better than I expected. Plus the music and cupcakes was a good touch.”
JOPEN Brand Ambassador Robin Stewart said, “I love that I have my own showroom. We have so much room to grow now. It was a really great move for the company.”
Austin Ferdinand, CalExotics executive account manager, said, “Our new location makes me even more happy to come to work. Our new larger showroom is perfect for training sessions with our customers.”
