touchGOODS Offers One-Stop Shop For Home Furnishing Needs

Choosing when and how to expand can be tricky calculus for small-business owners. For Norine Pennacchia, all the signs were pointing in one direction — all she had to do was walk through an already open door.

The interior designer is the owner of touchGOODS, a popular modern lighting and home store on Main Road in Southold. Pennacchia had been expanding her business “little by little,” she said, since opening in 2015, renovating a storage room in the back of the shop to create more showroom space, then renovating the basement.

She saw a spike in demand during the pandemic, with people who had recently fled the city to homes on the North Fork coming to her store looking for furniture — sofas, dining tables, desks — and other goods, in a hurry.

“That period of time is when we really figured it would be better to have more space readily available,” Pennacchia said.

Around the same time, the storefront directly to the east, which had long been the homewares store Compliment the Chef, had shut down, the owners choosing to retire. Not only were the two stores right next to each other, there was already a large interior sliding barn door separating the two spaces, making for a smooth transition.

“It was kind of a no-brainer,” Pennacchia said of taking over the space. “It just made sense to us. It seems like it’s meant to be one big shop.”

With the expansion, touchGOODS is now more of a bona fide department store, making it a one-stop shopping destination for those looking for anything from furniture and lighting to placemats, rugs and coffee makers. The new homewares division of touchGOODS is also filling the void left by Compliment the Chef, which had built up a loyal customer base over the years.

Visitors to the newly expanded store will get a taste for Pennacchia’s brand and aesthetic, a focus on mid-century modern style with an emphasis on sustainability. It’s a bit of a welcome departure from the traditional coastal motif that dominates many other home goods stores in the area.

The new housewares department, which opened on May 1, will include a wide array of items, from cookware, table settings and linens to bath towels, robes, bath mats, bedding and other essentials, which Pennacchia said is key for many of her North Fork customers.

“When Compliment the Chef left, people didn’t have a place to go to get housewares,” she said. “There were not a lot of options, and a lot of people don’t want to go to Riverhead in the middle of the summer.”

Pennacchia said she stocks a lot of items in neutral colors, so they can fit in easily with whatever style motif might already be dominant in a home.

In the kitchen department, everything from pots and pans to mixing bowls and measuring cups, decorative items, hostess gifts, and serving platters are on display. “I try to have a little bit of everything you might need, and we’re still developing that section every day,” Pennacchia said. “We’re always asking for suggestions, too, and if we don’t have it, we can order it.”

Part of the beauty of the mid-century modern design, Pennachia said, is that it can blend seamlessly with almost any motif someone may have in their home.

“It’s just about keeping that clean aesthetic, which I don’t think will ever really go away,” she said. “And I think it works for most people to mix in with their existing furniture. I don’t think people decorate all in one style anyway, especially on the North Fork. It’s more relaxed and casual. You might be mixing in new pieces with something you inherited from your grandparents.”

Pennacchia said making a commitment to sustainability is also key. “We work hard to look for collections that are made with sustainable materials,” she said. “And for high-quality, handcrafted, heirloom type pieces. To carry it in our shop, it has to have an environmental friendliness to it.”

While the new housewares department has only been open for a short period of time, Pennacchia said that certain items have already emerged as bestsellers. A collection from Italian company Fratelli Guzzini, which makes products with recycled plastic, has been a big hit. They make brightly colored plastic serving bowls and plastic glasses that have the look of intricately blown glass. Cutting boards and serving boards for charcuterie and appetizers from the Vermont-based company JK Adams have been popular as well. Chilewich vinyl placemats and floormats, which were bestsellers at Compliment the Chef, are being carried at touchGOODs as well, and can be ordered in custom sizes.

“They’re incredibly practical and they come in two different styles, with a flat woven design and a shag style,” she said, adding that they’re washable.

Because they’re made in the states, they ship quickly, Pennacchia said.

While global supply chain issues are still ongoing because of the pandemic, Pennacchia said she has a lot of items in stock, and added that many of the collections they work with have good stock in their U.S. warehouses as well, meaning that more often than not, even if an item is not in the store that day, she can have it shipped rather quickly.

And while touchGOODS is a small, local-owned business in one regard, it also has national reach, with a strong e-commerce model, thanks to Pennacchia’s proficiency when it comes to tech and being web-savvy.

“We sell to people all over the country, and I’m very hands-on with the website and with adding products,” she said.

“The website acts as our catalogue, so people can come in the store, but everything in the store is part of a much bigger collection,” she added. “We may have one sofa on the floor, but we have five different fabrics and other configurations [available online], so you can go home and really shop around.”

TouchGOODS is open Monday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hours will extend for the summer.

For more information, visit touchgoods.com.