By Lauren Otis, Business Editor
That elegant European-style makeover for your bathroom is closer than ever, literally and figuratively, with the recent opening of Princeton Bath & Kitchen at the Princeton Shopping Center.
The new business specializes in high-end fixtures, many from well-known Parisian manufacturers, according to Bernadette Sopronyi, who runs the showroom side of the new business she and equity partner Jacques Dessailly opened on Jan. 21.
”What we are going to specialize in is elegant European design. So we’re going to have a definite mixture of contemporary and traditional, to meet both the taste of a contemporary or traditional client,” she said.
Among the manufacturers her showroom will carry, Ms. Sopronyi listed: Decotec of Paris, Horus, Toto, Berbeau, Samuel Heath, Jado, Dornbracht, and Villeroy and Boch.
Selling bathroom fixtures, as well as offering installation and design services if needed, will be Princeton Bath & Kitchen’s primary focus initially, although kitchen and other plumbing products will be offered too, said Ms. Sopronyi, who worked at Jefferson Bath & Kitchen for 13 years before leaving several years ago. Her business will willingly work with a client’s own designer, architect, builder or contractor, or can work directly with the client, she said.
Ms. Sopronyi said the space they have taken at the Princeton Shopping Center, which is currently undergoing a center-wide renovation, spoke to both her and her business partner. “When we knew this was available we fell in love with it right away,” Ms. Sopronyi said.
”I wanted to have a showroom in Princeton for the convenience, for the community, so they don’t have to shop on Route 1,” she said, adding, “This is a small town and they are very loyal here. They want to do business with local people.”
Although a downtown Princeton location also had appeal, the decision was made to locate the showroom at the Princeton Shopping Center because of the ease of parking, and because area residents visited regularly to do their shopping and other business, she said.
”This isn’t where the tourists come. It is where the people who live in town come,” Ms. Sopronyi said.
And if those people want elegant Parisian fixtures they’ve come to the right place.
”In order to see this selection of Decotec (fixtures) they would have to go to Paris,” Ms. Sopronyi said.
