View all news stories

Sofas are creeping into more and more unusual places...

Sofas are synonymous with comfort. It is widely recognised that many people enjoy sinking into their sofa at the end of a hard day to unwind and put their feet up. This association with relaxation means that sofas have been creeping into more and more unusual places. Sofas are also typically more expensive than a regular hard backed chair. Consequently, when sofas are found in unusual situations they are viewed as luxurious and opulent. Therefore, this impression left by the sofas themselves can directly link the venue providing them in the same category. Sofas can now be found in a plethora of places out with the home, including coffee shops, bars, even in the cinema.

It is difficult to walk through a shopping centre or along a high street without stumbling upon a sofa or comfy armchair. The sofa culture has been prevalent in coffee shops for years. Almost all major coffee chains in the UK, including the top two, Costa and Starbucks, use sofas throughout their shops encouraging customers to linger and relax over their coffee and muffin, creating an enjoyable experience and encouraging customers to return again and again.

Many bars now also use sofas, picking up on their coffee shop popularity, to encourage visitors to take a break from the outside world, over a bottle of wine or pitcher of cocktail. Many bars are finding great success from providing this extra level of comfort for their customers. In addition, the ‘at home’ comfort provided by the sofas can offer a much more relaxed, more intimate environment; as a result making these bars a popular choice for a date.

Talk shows are another regular place where sofas can be regularly seen. A comfortable sofa can encourage the talk show guests to relax, and feel more like they are at home. In turn, if the celebrity guest feels at home, they are more likely to open up to the host because it will feel more like a chat with a friend, rather than an interview in front of countless cameras, being broadcast to millions of viewers. For example, the internationally recognised US chat show Oprah, saw the actor Tom Cruise jumped up and down on the sofa to declare his love for girlfriend Katie Holmes – an act which probably would not have happened has they been sitting on hard backed chairs!

Therefore, it is clear that you no longer have to rely exclusively on your home to avoid the hustle and bustle of the outside world. Instead, you can simply pop down to your local coffee shop, bar or even the cinema to enjoy a relaxed comfortable evening on the sofa!