Two family-owned businesses have come together to give Atlanta a swanky new kitchen-and-bath resource in the city’s most upscale shopping district. The Kohler Signature Store, located in the Buckhead Exchange shopping center, is the company’s thirteenth such concept and carries the firm’s wide range of brands from Kohler to Kallista and Robern. CEO David Kohler, whose great-great-grandfather founded the Wisconsin-based corporation in 1873, was even in town for the media preview in late November. The showroom is owned and operated by PDI—Plumbing Distributors, Inc., a leading Atlanta distributor of kitchen, bath, and lighting products since 1973.
“PDI has been owned and operated by a family from the beginning,” said store manager Tricia Coyle. “We’re not about flipping the product, we’re about building the relationship.”
Steve Bissell, Kohler’s vice president of marketing for North America, echoed Coyle’s sentiment. “The family relationship is a big deal,” he said. “Kohler always has the long-term view. It’s their name on the products.”
But if these business practices sound old-fashioned, there’s nothing outmoded about the product mix. Walk too closely to the wall of toilets and lids rise automatically. Spa-like showerheads can be programmed for frequency, sequence, and strength—not to mention music, steam, and chromatherapy. (Coyle assured us you can still shower if your wi-fi goes out.) There is also a wide range of stylish fixtures and materials, and the store has four designers on staff to help you create the room of your dreams.
Photographs courtesy of Kohler
