On an unassuming street in downtown Rochester, just a block away from Louise M. Slaughter Station, sits a design lover’s treasure trove — DL Home & Garden. The store boasts 11,500 square feet of furniture, art and decor and, since it opened in 2014, has become a staple for both the interior design community and design-savvy homeowners in Western New York and the Finger Lakes regions.
“When we opened, there hadn’t been a furniture store in downtown Rochester in nearly 25 years,” said Brian Coutu, who co-owns the store with interior designer Bob Breissinger.
The pair bought a trio of vacant Victorian-era buildings on Central Avenue (one of which was formerly a hotel), gutted them and turned them into a sprawling, inviting showroom. They added an additional space across the street in 2018.
Part of the location’s appeal was that the buildings had dedicated parking and two courtyard spaces, which Coutu and Breissinger use to showcase the store’s outdoor furniture offerings. The renovated courtyards have a transportative quality, with string lights and fruit-bearing lemon and fig trees that complement the furnishings.
“We wanted it to have a European feel and show our customers the kind of environments it’s possible to create,” said Coutu. “At night, we leave the string lights on, and it’s really beautiful. It creates a nice streetscape for the block. It has the feeling of a big-city store.”
That feeling of possibility ripples throughout the showroom, where pieces from high-end American brands Bernhardt, Century, Baker, Palecek and CR Laine — among dozens of others — are on display. The quality of the furniture has remained a differentiator for DL Home as mass retailers like West Elm and Arhaus set up shop in Rochester in recent years.
“Most of our sofas feature springs that are eight-way hand tied, a 200-year-old tradition that gives you a better product and a better feeling than mass-produced pieces can offer,” said Coutu. “This is hand-built furniture, most of which can be made to order. If the customer wants a custom width or a different cushion layout, we can accommodate that. And some of these manufacturers have in excess of 800 fabric choices for the customers to work with. That’s a real difference.”
Erin Eder, co-owner of local interior design and staging company Cedar & Deed, said DL Home was one of the first places she and her partner Dee Dee DiMarco turned to when their firm began doing whole home projects.
“When you have a beautifully renovated space, you also need high-quality furniture because you’re talking about homeowners that are ready to invest,” said Eder. “They’re not going to be replacing these pieces in five years. They want things that will last.”
That need led the duo to DL Home, a space Eder said is like Candyland for interior designers.
“It’s a really amazing resource to have in our community,” she said. “I love being able to shop there and ask Brian and Bob for their opinions. It’s a special place.”
To curate the store’s assortment, Breissinger and Coutu travel to trade shows across the U.S. from High Point Market in North Carolina to shows in Las Vegas, Atlanta and New York City.
On a recent trip to Las Vegas Market, the pair found an artisan who specializes in creating hand-dyed pillows out of the hide of springbok, a breed of antelope found in South Africa.
“We try to differentiate ourselves from the typical furniture store by having highly unusual things,” said Coutu.
Breissinger ran a sister business, the to-the-trade Designer’s Library, in different locations for over 30 years. Designer’s Library now sits above the DL Home space, giving regional interior designers access to over 60,000 hanging fabric samples in addition to wallpaper, rug, flooring and hardware samples. Coutu said Designer’s Library is the largest trade showroom in the state, outside of New York City.
“Whatever the designer or their customer needs, we can usually satisfy that,” said Breissinger.
In addition to taking pride in what they put on the showroom floor, the duo takes pride in their location. That love prompted them to lease additional space on Central Avenue from the state in order to plant and maintain greenspace around the store. Coutu designed the landscaping himself, a project that he felt aligned with his personal values.
“We’re very civic-minded,” he said. “Being across from the train station, we felt an obligation to create a nice image when people arrive in Rochester. We’re located at a gateway to the city, and creating a welcoming environment felt important.”
Breissinger summed it up simply: “We love downtown.” dlhomegarden.com
