Wash your hands, take a nap: Six experience centres where you can try out home products

SINGAPORE – These days, it seems like every other home product brand – from those selling bathroom fittings to mattress proprietors – is jumping on the experience store bandwagon.

Some are just glorified showrooms. But others have set up captivating multi-sensory spaces that give shoppers a reason to leave their homes.

From sleep pods to shower sprays, The Straits Times visits six retail environments that look to bring the “home” into “home products” with immersive and interactive shopping experiences.

Castlery Sleep Studio

At the end of July, Singapore furniture brand Castlery opened a new 613 sq ft space on the second floor of its Orchard Road showroom called Sleep Studio. 

Upon request, curtains can be drawn around the space and the lights dimmed, so shoppers can experience the brand’s Ayrie mattress collection in a more relaxed, private setting for about 10 minutes.

Each shopper will receive a disposable pillow cover and eye mask, as well as ear plugs to block out noise. Modesty covers are available on request.

Where: 02/03-02 Liat Towers, 541 Orchard Road
When: 10am to 9pm daily
Info: castlery.com/sg 

EDL Gallery

Choosing laminates for your home carpentry is one of those experiences that can go either way: Something that looks good in a tiny swatch, or even an A5-size sample, might not look as good when it is placed on a sprawling wardrobe in your bedroom.

The EDL Gallery in Woodlands, which opened in 2024, makes this process a bit less confusing and mysterious. The home-grown laminates brand offers a range of materials, including worktop surfaces.

In The Canopy, a designated space within the 54,000 sq ft centre, visitors can “pull out” full-sheet laminates to see and feel them in larger formats. Then, they can take a few steps over to a lighting and temperature adjustment corner. Here, visitors can view a small sample of the same material under colour temperatures ranging from warm 2700K to cool 6000K. 

The Canopy is furnished with laminates in surprising ways. For instance, hanging ornaments made of discontinued laminates give a forest-like foliage effect. There is also a trio of pendant lights wrapped in laminates instead of a conventional finish.

“Static displays can show what a material is, but an experiential gallery shows what it can become,” says EDL’s marketing director, Eleanor Lim.

“We did not want to limit our customers’ imagination by presenting laminates only in conventional spaces or as samples on a wall,” she says.

“By applying them across interesting furniture pieces, installations and architectural elements, we hope to reveal their versatility and inspire visitors to see possibilities they may not have considered for their own spaces.”

Where: EDL Building, 17 Woodlands Terrace
When: 8.30am to 5.30pm, Mondays to Fridays; 8.30am to 5pm, Saturdays; closed on Sundays and public holidays
Info: instagram.com/edl_laminates

Flexform Experience Centre

The 4,000 sq ft Flexform Experience Centre in Singapore is designed to give visitors an escape from the stressors of everyday life, says Lim Swee Hoe, managing director of Rosso Italia Living. 

That starts with a satin-clad feature wall designed to evoke the feel of a softly illuminated window – which establishes a calm and relaxed atmosphere from the moment of entry.

The overall space is arranged into different settings that you might find in and outside a home.

Two spaces stand out: one that is furnished as a home entertainment room, and another that is staged to look and feel like an outdoor area.

At the “home entertainment area”, a large television screen is installed with the brand’s configurator software. This allows customers to customise different products – everything from modular configurations to upholstery to finishes.

Meanwhile, the “outdoor area” – which has been set up with backdrops and outdoor furniture that emulate the feel of a tropical terrace – is also a space where customers can sit down with the brand’s specialists to go through samples of different materials used in Flexform products.

These include leathers, fabrics, stones and even details such as piping. 

“One of the comments we hear most often is how much clients enjoy taking their time to explore the materials, discover the craftsmanship behind each piece and experience the collections at their own pace,” says Lim.

“They appreciate that the Experience Centre offers a calm, welcoming environment that feels inspiring rather than transactional.”

Where: 05-04 Luzerne Building, 70 Bendemeer Road
When: 10am to 6pm, Mondays to Fridays
Info: rossoitalia.com/experience-center

Hansgrohe’s The Water Studio

Hangrohe’s 5,300 sq ft The Water Studio is meant to feel more like a showflat than a showroom. 

“This allows visitors to see how different products, designs and finishes can come together in a realistic setting and better imagine how they may look and function in their own homes,” says Hansgrohe marketing executive Stella Tan.

The live demonstration area is the key feature of the space.

Here, visitors can turn on different showers and see how they work – behind the dry safety of a partition, of course. 

“This is particularly important for showers, as qualities such as water coverage, spray intensity and ease of use cannot be fully appreciated through photographs or product specifications alone,” says Tan. 

Where: 69 Mohamed Sultan Road
When: 11am to 8pm daily
Info: instagram.com/hansgrohesg

Rigel Experience Centre

At the Rigel Experience Centre, visitors encounter a variety of bathroom and kitchen environments in different shapes and sizes, each showcasing various products offered by the brand.

Some of the toilet suites are fully functional, allowing visitors to turn on and off taps, try out flush systems and so on. 

There is also a finish-matching station, so visitors can pair finishes to see how they match and feel when in use. 

The highlight is the dedicated Wellness Ensuite, featuring a sauna, cold plunge, immersive rain shower and the brand’s latest Smart Water Closet.

It is open for booking on weekdays, with one slot available a day, at rigelensuitebooking.netlify.app

Where: 20 Changi Business Park Central 2
When: 8.30am to 5.30pm, Mondays to Fridays; 10am to 7pm, Saturdays and Sundays
Info: instagram.com/rigelglobal

Woosa’s The Dreamery

As the name implies, local mattress brand Woosa’s The Dreamery is intended to be a calming and relaxing space that is conducive to thinking about sleep. 

That experience starts even before you step into the 5,500 sq ft location, as customers are asked to remove their shoes at the door. 

Once you do that, you are greeted by soft carpeting under your feet and a pleasant rainforest scent in the air – a custom blend the Woosa team developed with local perfumer Scent Journer. 

Beds are arranged spaciously apart in a gentle curve, and diffused lighting and soft music add to the relaxed ambience. 

Behind a set of curtains are the sleep pods, where customers can try out a Woosa mattress in an intimate, dark and quiet environment over a private 30-minute session. Customers can even adjust the air-conditioning and try sleep accessories such as pillows and duvets. 

Woosa co-founder Tyler Peh says: “In most traditional mattress stores, you’re usually trying only the mattress and maybe a pillow. You don’t get a feel for how everything else – your duvet, bedsheets or even the room itself – comes together to shape your sleep experience. We wanted to create something that feels much closer to how people actually sleep at home.”

He adds that every pod and all used products are sanitised throughout the day and deep-cleaned daily. Disposable pillow and mattress hygiene covers are also provided. 

Where: 01-01 T-Space, 1 Tampines North Drive 1
When: 11am to 8pm daily
Info: instagram.com/woosasg