Whether you just bought a Victorian fixer-upper in the village or want to add on to your brand new home in Waterstone, Avalon Remodeling and Design Company is ready to meet all Oxford’s home improvement needs.
Owned by Addison resident JoAnn Watters, the home improvement center is preparing to open at 3 N. Washington St. by Saturday, Aug. 23, just in time for Celebrate Oxford.
Unlike the mega home improvement chain stores where people are faceless numbers, Watters said she wants customers “to walk in here and feel warm and cozy.”
“That’s the atmosphere I want,” she said. “They’re going to get very specialized, personalized service.”
Avalon will specialize in custom-made cabinets and countertops for the kitchen and bathroom manufactured by the Oxford-based Liberty Custom Countertops & Cabinets, located at 3212 Adventure Lane.
Jim Freer, who works for both Avalon and Liberty, said the original idea behind the new home improvement center was to create a showroom exclusively for Liberty’s products.
However, it was later decided to offer other product lines, such as the Canadian-based Unique Concepts and Yorktown, because “in-store competition gives customers the best advantage.”
Four complete display kitchens and two bathrooms will be set-up in the Avalon showroom, when the store is finished. Samples of “every possible countertop there is,” such as laminates, solid surface and granite, will be available, Freer said.
In addition to cabinets and countertops, Avalon will offer sunrooms, office furniture, home theaters, windows, roofing, siding, flooring and cement work.
“Most of our products are going to have lifetime warranties,” Freer said.
Freer characterized Avalon as a “one stop shop for home improvement” staffed by knowledgable employees.
“Here you won’t be dealing with a salesman or a clerk,” he said. “You’re going to be dealing with a design consultant. Our people will be fully trained in all the products that we handle. You’ll be dealing with one person. You won’t be passed around from person to person like at the big home improvement center.”
Once customers find what they’re looking for, they can either install it themselves or have Avalon do it.
“We can build whole additions,” Freer said. “We have licensed and insured builders, contractors, electricians and plumbers. . .We have an expert in every field. We want every job to be a professional job.”
“We’ll be able to do everything from a simple vanity top to a complete home,” he said. “We’re not going to build complete homes, but we do have the capability.”
“Our object is to take the customer’s dream and make it a reality,” Freer added.
Avalon prides itself on the fact that it can do installations in half the time of the big home improvement stores.
“(The big stores) give you 10-12 weeks to put in a kitchen,” Watters said. “We’ll be able to do it in 4-6 weeks.”
To “make sure” whatever a customer orders “fits perfectly the first time,” Avalon will send the construction supervisor from the Liberty factory into the field to take measurements, Freer said.
The measurements “can be done in six days” whereas with “Home Depot it takes six weeks,” he said. “We’re the faster turn-around company.”
Although the downtown Oxford showroom isn’t open yet, Freer said the Avalon is “currently taking orders and completing jobs.”
Avalon is presently scheduling appointments over the phone and sending representatives to customers’ homes to help them design on site.
When asked why Oxford was chosen as the first location for the new home improvement center, Watters replied, “It’s a great area. I love it. I love all the restaurants and unique stores. It’s hip to be in Oxford.”
For more information about Avalon Remodeling and Design Company call 1-888-547-3303.