Furniture retailer CouchHaus, the Canadian custom modular sofa brand known for its made-to-order designs, washable slipcovers, and comfort-first approach, is expanding beyond its Vancouver base with a new Calgary showroom opening next week as the company looks to build a broader national retail presence in response to growing customer demand across Canada.
Co-founders Harrison Gordon and Paige Sandher said the Calgary location is expected to soft open in mid-July, with an official opening planned for early August. The move comes as the company also negotiates a lease for a Toronto location it hopes to open in the fourth quarter.
The expansion reflects a shift from operating a single flagship showroom to establishing a physical presence in markets where the company says online demand has already demonstrated customer interest.
The Calgary showroom will be located in the city’s Beltline district at the corner of 11th Avenue and 6th Street S.W.. At roughly 2,150 square feet, it will be slightly larger than the company’s approximately 1,600-square-foot flagship showroom in Vancouver’s South Granville neighbourhood.
The Calgary showroom will soft open from July 10–15 with appointments and walk-ins available.
“Calgary has consistently been one of our strongest markets, so opening a showroom here felt like the natural next step,” said Sandher. “As we continue to grow across Canada, our retail roadmap is focused on bringing the CouchHaus experience closer to the communities already showing strong demand for our product, paired with our design consults support in the custom journey.”
“The Calgary showroom is an important milestone in our Canadian expansion,” said Gordon. “With Vancouver established and Calgary opening this summer, we’re continuing to explore opportunities in Eastern Canada as we build the next phase of CouchHaus retail.”
Gordon said the Calgary store also represents an evolution in how the company approaches retail development.
“Vancouver was more of a DIY project, and this time we’ve hired general contractors and are making it look a lot more professional,” he said.
The company’s first permanent retail location opened in April 2024 in Vancouver. It later tested demand in Ontario through a three-month pop-up store at Stackt Market in Toronto between November 2024 and January 2025.
Online data shaped expansion plans
Sandher said customer data played a central role in selecting Calgary for the company’s next permanent location.
“There are a couple of reasons,” Gordon said. “One, the data supports it.”
He said online orders, website traffic and requests for fabric samples consistently pointed to Calgary as one of the company’s strongest markets.
“It’s one of our top five markets across Canada at the moment,” he said.
The company also viewed the Beltline neighbourhood as a strategic fit because of its pedestrian traffic and its proximity to other furniture retailers.
Sandher said the experience in Vancouver reinforced the value of locating near competitors rather than away from them.
“One thing we noticed in Vancouver, which was a great success for us, was being on South Granville where furniture stores are back-to-back,” she said.
While Calgary does not have the same concentrated furniture district, he said many retailers are located within a short walk of one another, creating a similar shopping experience for customers.
“We’re still very close to our competitors, which is good,” she said.
Toronto remains the next priority
The company is also moving beyond preliminary discussions for a Toronto showroom.
Sandher said the business is negotiating a lease in the city’s King East neighbourhood after submitting an offer that landlords are reviewing.
“We’re currently negotiating,” he said. “So it’s more than just scouting.”
The proposed location would be comparable in size to the Calgary showroom, although the total space spans about 3,000 square feet over two levels. Roughly 2,000 square feet would be dedicated to the showroom, while the mezzanine could be used for staff operations rather than retail displays.
Sandher said the company is considering either opening the location initially as a pop-up before transitioning to a permanent showroom or establishing a permanent store from the outset.
The goal is to open during the fourth quarter of the year.
Showrooms remain part of customer experience
The expansion comes despite continued growth through the company’s online business.
Sandher said its products are typically high-value purchases that require more consideration than everyday retail items, making physical showrooms an important complement to digital sales.
“Our product is a high-consideration purchase with a higher order value,” she said.
She said improvements to the company’s website have helped customers better understand its products, but many consumers still prefer to see and interact with furniture before making a purchasing decision.
“Given the custom nature, people still want to interact with products and understand how companies look and feel in showroom settings,” Sandher said.
She said the company considered remaining focused on British Columbia while serving other regions online, but ultimately decided national demand justified expanding its physical footprint.
“We’ve seen that in our orders,” she said.
Because both Calgary and Toronto rank among the company’s five strongest markets based on online conversions, Sandher said opening local showrooms became the logical next step.
“We wanted to support customers with an in-store experience as well,” she said.
Five years after launch, focus remains on growth
The expansion comes as the company marks its fifth anniversary.
Sandher said the business continues to position itself through product customization and ongoing improvements to its online platform.
“There’s something to be said about a young company doing something different,” she said.
She added that the company’s website has evolved significantly and remains an important part of how customers research products before visiting a showroom.
More from Retail Insider:
- Innovative Direct-to-Consumer Furniture Startup CouchHaus Opens 1st Physical Retail Space in Vancouver [Interview]
- CouchHaus tests Toronto waters with pop-up at Stackt Market (Photos)
