Wren’s 5-Year U.S. Run: Then Bam- Spring Cleaning!
Big Showrooms, Small Math, and a Few Lessons for Dealers
Well hello again and Happy Friday! I’m not sure if I ever did all the Spring Cleaning in one day, but they certainly pulled it off! And BTW….. don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out. I really liked them until they closed the doors overnight and left the employees and customers hanging. Yes, I suspect it would have cost them a pretty penny more to tighten things up before the exit, but they chose another path. Why slam the door shut? You should never burn London Bridges behind you. Everybody knows that. Things change…and they dang sure are over the next 5 years!
I have always been amazed by how much Wren could sell out of one showroom in the UK. Their model over there looked like a kitchen-selling machine on rocket fuel! Based on their reported revenue and showroom count, they were doing somewhere around $10 million-plus per showroom. What the hell? It made my 30-year run at the big “R” look like a slow polka. Ugh! And we were the largest KB Dealer in the country. Now that’s why we should always be wearing a student’s cap. Next week- Blog on business innovation in the KB Industry. Don’t worry.. It’s only one sentence long.. 😊 Back to Wren!
Then they came to the U.S. Market.
And the math started looking very different.
If Wren’s U.S. business was roughly 4% of their 2025 overall revenue, that puts U.S. sales somewhere around $50 million. Spread across their U.S. footprint, including standalone stores and Home Depot studios, that looks closer to $1 million per location.
That is a long way from the UK model.
For comparison, many solid independent kitchen and bath dealers in the U.S. are probably closer to $2 million per showroom, and plenty of good ones do more than that. So Wren’s U.S. sales had to be a pittance compared to what they thought was coming when they rolled up on the shores with big showrooms, big hours, and big expectations.
And that is where the lesson starts.
Wren seemed to believe they could bring the UK playbook to America and simply overwhelm the market. But kitchen and bath doesn’t work that way here. This business runs on trust, relationships, local proof, good designers, reliable installers, trade partners, referrals, and a whole lot of “I know a guy who had a good experience with them.”
You do not walk into a market cold and instantly replace that.
They also built huge showrooms. Impressive? Sure. Cheap? Not even after three glasses of optimism. The days of massive showrooms may be changing. Ya think? Customers understand that big spaces cost money, and deep down they know somebody is paying for the showroom chandelier. Spoiler alert: maybe keep both hands on your wallet.
The future may belong to smaller experience showrooms, better digital tools, stronger AI support, better visualization, sharper follow-up, and a model that helps customers feel confident without dragging around a building the size of a regional airport terminal.
Now let’s talk about the people side. Great designers in the U.S. already have jobs. To attract them, you need more than a chair, a quota, and a cheerful “go get ’em, mate.” You need leadership, coaching, culture, tools, and an employee journey that makes talented people want to join and stay. Ever heard of an Employee Journey? No, it’s not Latin
The lesson for dealers is pretty simple: read the tea leaves before the kettle explodes.
If your current model won’t work in the future, pivot. If your showroom is too heavy, rethink it. If your team feels pressure but not support, fix it. If technology is sitting there looking pretty but not changing the business, put it to work. AI and Agents baby!
Wren’s U.S. exit is not just a story about a British company packing up and setting sail. It is a reminder that even big companies can misread a market and how to react. Actually a few US ones come to mind. 😊
And when they do, the market does not send flowers.
It sends math.
Reps have started joining our AI program so that is good. The others…. Well, you know.
Thanks for reading this and please reach out if you are interested in change.
thad
