Bay Area luxury furniture brand RH lays off hundreds of employees

RH recently laid off over 400 employees.

RH, the luxury furniture brand formerly known as Restoration Hardware, laid off approximately 440 workers last week.

The Corte Madera-based company conducted the layoffs as part of a restructuring effort that included "the elimination of numerous leadership and other positions throughout the organization," according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The filing states that reductions to the company's workforce were needed in order to upgrade its organizational structure and "streamline" aspects of its business operations.

These layoffs come in the midst of RH's push to expand beyond furniture and open a number of new "design galleries," which feature high-end showrooms and restaurants. "RH San Francisco, The Gallery," RH's San Francisco design gallery housed in the historic Bethlehem Steel building in the Dogpatch, opened last year.

RH plans to open design galleries in "iconic buildings and luxury retail shopping centers" across North America, taking "proximity to affluent consumers" into account when choosing locations, according to the SEC filing. A design gallery at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto is nearing completion and is expected to open this year, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The company is also attempting to dip its toes into the world of hospitality. In September, CEO Gary Friedman announced the purchase of an 857-acre property at the former site of Napa Soda Springs Resort, which RH plans to develop into a luxury destination with its own winery. The SEC filing contains several mentions of incorporating elements of hospitality into new and existing design galleries, though specifics as to what this might entail were not provided. RH did not respond to SFGATE's request for comment by publication time.

"We believe our integrated RH hospitality experience, which includes Restaurants and Wine Bars, has created a unique new retail experience that cannot be replicated online, and that the addition of hospitality drives incremental sales of home furnishings in these Galleries. We plan to incorporate hospitality into most of the new Galleries that we open in the future," the filing says.

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