Hooker’s take on Margaritaville is more than merely coastal

As buyers braved the chilly wind and rain at last month’s High Point Market, Hooker Furniture‘s spot on the second floor of Showplace stood in stark contrast to the weather outside.

The company rolled into High Point with a new licensed collection developed in partnership with Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville lifestyle brand, one that went well beyond the beach in making a big bet that people could use a little fun right now.

While the coastal aesthetic one would expect is certainly represented in the product assortment, the line is much broader in design scope than anticipated, a surprise for buyers that Hooker says was very much by design.

Elevated playfulness

Members of the product development team told sister pub Furniture Today that the collaboration combined Margaritaville’s sense of play with Hooker’s brand storytelling approach across four distinct lifestyle vignettes.

“We’ve got four stories — Saint Somewhere, Island Reserve, Paradise Valley and JWB Signature — each tied to a different way of living,” said John Witteveen, vice president of product development.

Those vignettes provided a framework to balance Margaritaville’s signature laid-back energy with Hooker’s refined design language.

“Hooker is an elevated, luxury brand, and Margaritaville is fun and playful but also higher-end. We had to balance both,” said Kathryn Behmer, director of merchandising, occasional and accents. “We wanted the furniture to feel elevated — something you could live with for a lifetime — but we also wanted to bring in fun elements that make people smile.”

Hooker’s product and marketing teams worked hand in hand to ensure the design direction remained grounded in consumer insights even as it incorporated play and whimsey.

“We worked closely with marketing to start with data — understanding who Margaritaville is and what they stand for — and that helped us build product that fits that lifestyle,” Behmer said.

The breadth of the Margaritaville brand, which stretches from casual consumer goods to luxury residential communities, gave the design team room to explore different interpretations of the brand while staying true to its DNA.

“There’s a whole spectrum within the Margaritaville brand — from more affordable places to very high-end luxury communities — so we had room to explore that range,” Witteveen said.

That flexibility also extended into lifestyle features inspired by evolving consumer habits.

“We get a lot of our ideas by paying attention to what people are talking about online — like when we started seeing Mahjong everywhere on social media,” Witteveen said. “We designed the Compass Point game table for playing mahjong. It has the compass-rose veneer inlay pattern on top, drawers for game pieces and pull-outs for drinks.”

A flexible design palette

The Margaritaville collection offers designers and dealers a wide variety of finishes and color options across SKUs, an intentional move to encourage mixing and matching within the line.

“You’ll see silhouettes repeated throughout the showroom — a drum table in blue grass cloth, another in white linen — the same SKUs offered in different colors,” Witteveen said.

That same adaptability extends to accents and occasional pieces, which provide opportunities for a dose of personality without overwhelming a room.

“There are a lot of fun accents throughout the group,” Witteveen said. “The little spot table in the front room has a cast parrot — that’s the Jolly Mon spot table, named for Jimmy Buffett’s parrot.”

Behmer said the team used smaller accent items to convey Margaritaville’s playful energy in measured ways.

“You’ll see a lot of fun names like the ‘Oh Buoy’ table — trying to bring the fun in a small silhouette,” she said. “Part of the collection really dives into that coastal lifestyle everyone expects: twisted seagrass fronts, wrapped plastic cases, and little accents layered in so each piece can stand alone if needed.”

The company balanced those whimsical touches with strong core case pieces that anchor the look.

“We felt like you had to have those statement pieces but tie them back to core dining tables and bars — just in a slightly smaller scale for condos and communities where people are downsizing,” Behmer said.

Casting a wide net

Hooker also designed the line with regional diversity in mind, incorporating darker finishes and transitional silhouettes that speak to a broader range of interiors.

“This room — the Paradise Valley section featuring darker finishes — shows how your paradise can be anywhere: the beach, the mountains, lake living,” Behmer said. “We did a deeper brown finish called Terra alongside the worn white Sun Bleach finish. Both work across different lifestyle vignettes.”

That approach reflects a core belief that Margaritaville is not limited to coastal consumers.

“One of Margaritaville’s top destinations is Gatlinburg, Tenn., so it was important to build that mountain element into the collection,” Behmer said. “Paradise isn’t just coastal. You might be in Ohio and want a little piece of that lifestyle; this collection lets you achieve it without going over the top.”

Early retailer response suggested that message resonated in at Market.

“From coast to coast, the brand is transcending the usual connotations; it’s connecting beyond just coastal markets,” Witteveen said. “The idea for the showroom was to create a gallery experience that retailers could potentially recreate in their stores.”

Behmer believes that the flexibility afforded by its finish options has lent the collection broad appeal.

“We’ve had great success across the country,” she said. “The Terra finish has done just as well as Sun Bleach; it’s a good mix. Margaritaville has properties all over, not just on the coast but throughout the center of the country, and they’re still adding more. We want to be positioned to grow everywhere.”

And while established retailers have driven much of the early momentum, design buyers have also taken notice.

“Most of the interest has come from Top 100 retailers, but the design channel is growing fast,” Witteveen said. “It’s been a good mix of both here in High Point.”