inside out STORY

Words: JOANA COSTA

NEW PLACE TO FURNISH FROM SCRATCH? OR STAYING PUT AND WANTING A COMPLETE REVAMP? OR LOOKING FOR THOSE LITTLE EXTRAS THAT WILL INTRODUCE A NEW STYLE PERSONALITY TO YOUR HOME? A TRIP TO TAVIRA IS DEFINITELY IN ORDER

Cool and modern, or traditional and classic, the furniture choice covers all tastes, and all styles of home

REMEMBER what it was like shopping in a big, beautiful department store? In the homewares department, often taking up an entire level, or maybe even two, there would be vast choices whether you were looking for bedroom sweets (pun intended), swish seating for the living room, lights with sparkle, or contemporary minimalism for the home office. Well, up until now, finding that sort of choice, and the top-quality luxury products that went with it, has been nigh on impossible here, unless you headed up to Lisbon or Porto and Corte Inglés, went west into Spain and the branch in Huelva, or opted to stay closer to home and pop into Ikea.

But all that is changing, and changing fast, as in midJuly the beautiful town of Tavira welcomes a huge and dazzling new destination home and decoration store, opening this month. Oliveira Décor is the name, and it is one that people are talking about.

You may have previously read of and visited the petite shop in the centre of town, and bought some lovely pieces. That shop, tucked away across the bridge, was the beginnings of what now promises to be one of the region’s most desirable home stores, as Oliveira Décor expands its reach in a spectacular fashion.

Owned by Lloyd Booker (Managing Director) and Karen D’Oliveira, the new flagship store, opening this month, totals more than 3,000m² of indoor and outdoor retail space together with parking, in a location that’s the envy of even the most successful businesses in the area.

Making it happen

So who are the twosome behind Oliveira Décor? Lloyd is a fairly new resident in the Algarve, having upped roots in the UK and made the permanent move to Portugal in January 2020. Having launched and developed several businesses in the past, and in collaboration with Karen, he is now spearheading the next stage of Oliveira Décor and has big plans for its success.

Karen, in contrast, has lived in the Algarve for nearly 40 years. She launched Tavira D’Artes in December 2015 and has built it into one of the most successful, respected galleries in the Algarve, carrying the work of a range of in-demand artists and sculptors, and her own collaborations in oils.

The two met by chance through a mutual friend and began working together on building Karen’s gallery profile. That they shared a mutual understanding and forwardthinking vision became evident at the start and the idea of forming a new business together emerged. During their creative discussions about what that business might be, they identified the need for a quality home furniture store in the East Algarve. To test out and evaluate this concept, the duo moved forward and opened their first shop in Tavira, a small design-driven boutique.

Oliveira Décor proved successful, attracting not just local customers looking for special products and interior design advice, but those from the central and west areas. However, its tiny size and difficult location – a small side street and virtually zero parking –proved frustrating to the extreme, making it difficult to broaden the scope of the products and services that could be offered.

Twelve months after opening, Lloyd and Karen started to look for suitable premises to expand into, a search that took nearly two years. But, the wait was worth it and had a surprising conclusion. Lloyd explains…

The vision

“Our first shop, just 100m² in size, was always going to be something of a challenge. However, our search for a new location that would give us around 500m² was unsuccessful – there just isn’t that much prime retail space in Tavira.

“Then, an opportunity came our way which changed everything. A huge, independent retail space in the best location possible became available at short notice. At nearly

3,500m, it was seven times the space we had been looking for, and an astonishing 35 times greater than our existing shop.

“We recognised that the possibilities it afforded us were extraordinary. With that sort of space there were no barriers to what we could achieve. We decided to go for it, skipping what we always thought of as our second stage in the development of Oliveira Décor and rocketed straight into what had only been a dream for the future.

“Clearly this was out of our financial ability but, through the belief and generosity of two of our wonderful clients, we raised the money and now, everything is turning into reality!

“The building had previously been used as a warehouse, so the renovation works have been extensive, to say the least. Everything within the walls has been changed, designed and developed to form a highly individual environment. Looking at photographs of how the premises were when we took them over, it is amazing to see it emerging, on a daily basis, into what I believe will be a hugely attractive super-sized store, divided into specific departments.

“Oliveira Décor will be a destination home furnishing store, offering exceptional products and accessories to discerning customers. Our style has always been a mix of the contemporary and the classic so that all tastes can be accommodated. But this new venture allows us incredible freedom to expand our portfolio even further. We believe we have a style for everyone, from modern to rustic, industrial to chic, and we have spent a great deal of time listening to our customers and predicting trends, and through that we have the perfect mix of styles and price points.

Awaiting to be discovered

“Our furniture is sourced from all over the world with a larger percentage from key makers in Europe. Style is important, of course, but we are fanatical about quality as we want our customers, who are investing hard-earned money in their homes here, to feel content with their purchases with us for many years to come.”

Says Karen: “The sheer size of the property also allows us to change the way we sell. It gives us the ability to showcase all of the products in our portfolio, so that customers can look, touch and feel everything before they buy – so many shops and designers sell from catalogues and, however beautifully presented they are, they simply can’t compete with seeing the real thing. Our new store has also allowed us to greatly increase our product categories; we have added outdoor furniture, lighting, a large range of luxury seating, beds, ceramics, tableware, soft furnishings and, of course, art!”

“Most exciting of all,” says Lloyd, “is the addition of our commercial services. We are now ready to work with professional clients such as constructors, architects, real estate agencies, hotels and many other businesses, offering design, property staging and of course, a huge range of super stylish furniture, accessories and decoration.

“Completing the renovation has been exhausting but we all see the potential and quite frankly, Tavira – no, the East Algarve –no, the whole Algarve, needs a store like this!

“And it doesn’t stop there,” says Lloyd.” With an inhouse interior designer we will be able to help every customer turn their property into their dream homes.”