Best Plumbing Supply, a Kohler plumbing distributor based in the Northeast, opened Kohler Co.’s first Experience Center in Manhattan, a new retail concept that includes a private bathing space for customers to experience products by appointment. Even the company’s line of intelligent toilets with the very latest Kohler technology is available to offer consumers on-site product immersion.

“Our partnership with Kohler Co. spans nearly 50 years,” said Kymberly Weiner, sales and development manager of Best Plumbing. “It's a tremendous honor to elevate our collaboration to one that will best inspire and serve consumers and design professionals through a shopping experience rooted in Kohler's spirit of gracious living.”

The 10,000 square-foot New York City store in the Flatiron District is designed to show the company’s breadth of products, colors and assortments and will also feature its international products for designers and architects working on projects abroad.

“Our Kohler Experience Centers build upon the success of our Signature Stores and will uniquely provide a deeper immersion into our product offerings for trade professionals sourcing and selecting the best products for any project, wherever it may be in the world,” said David Kohler, president and CEO of Kohler.

The store features a private bathing space where customers can make appointments to experience products such as Real Rain, designed to simulate standing in the rain, and VibrAcoustic hydrotherapy, which uses sound waves to create a relaxing rhythmic experience in a bathtub.

Kohler Co. plans to launch a total of nine Experience Centers over the next year to meet the global demand. In addition to the New York opening, London will immediately follow, along with Los Angeles, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, New Delhi and Taipei opening later in the year.

To best serve design professionals, the centers will also offer a new Kohler global specification service, which will for the first time allow professional architects and designers working on international projects to have instant, hands-on access to all products across the entire Kohler global portfolio. A Kohler team of experts will be stationed on-site to help source and resolve complex plumbing projects both in the United States and around the world. By-appointment videoconferencing will also be available, connecting customers with the full network of Kohler product experts across its international markets.

“We recognized a tremendous need across the industry for a deeper knowledge and insight into how our products work,” said Larry Yuen, president of the company’s global Kitchen & Bath Group. “From a plumbing perspective, the products that work in a bathroom in Milan are acutely different from those that need to work in a hotel in Dubai, for instance.”

Best Plumbing Supply has been focused on providing customer service to retail and trade clients alike for more than 50 years.  Best Plumbing Tile & Stone's four showrooms, located in Scarsdale, Somers and Yorktown, New York and Stamford, Connecticut, offer a comprehensive selection of high-quality plumbing fixtures and tile. The new Experience Center, like Best’s other plumbing showrooms, will be supported by its 137,000 square foot distribution center in Somers, New York.