In the midst of Valley Designs’ 14,000 square feet of showroom and office space, Lew Vassberg admitted she was eager to be downsizing in October. Sixteen years ago, interior designers were expected to have a large showroom for customers to choose from numerous items.

“The internet has changed all that, not only for the designer but for the client,” Vassberg said. Most of her clients are commercial accounts – hospitals, banks and offices. She goes to their offices; they don’t come to her office or even know where it is. Vassberg now uses her vendors’ websites to select the fabrics, flooring and furnishings she is considering for a proposal. Those suppliers usually have samples delivered to her the next day.

Even 20 years ago, people who used the services of an interior designer didn’t want what they –and everyone else- saw on the showroom floor. They sought different fabrics, finishes and colors. So Valley Designs had accumulated uncounted thousands and thousands of sample books filled with swatches of upholstery, drapery and rug samples; wall racks deep with paint chips and laminate samples and cabinets brimming with counter surface materials. The sample library, overflowing with possibilities, covered at least 25 percent of the floor space.

“For every different kind of window treatment, there is a book full of choices. It’s more than the mind can stand,” Vassberg said. “In this economy and with e-trade, there’s no reason to have a big library (of sample books.) Everybody’s got to do it.”  And Vassberg has noticed that she is the only one using her library. “The younger generation has no conception of doing anything but looking up information online.”

Other anachronisms were taking up additional space. Valley Designs, until its move, had shelves crammed with blueprints from years’ of projects such as the Children’s Center at Valley Baptist Medical Center Harlingen and Knapp Medical Center, the spa-like mammography area at Valley Regional Medical Center, the mother-baby unit at Knapp, Texas Regional Bank, Border Capital Bank, medical offices and insurance companies.
Still the tradition of having a showroom had a strong hold, despite the fact that Valley Designs’ records dating back to 1995 are all stored electronically, in the cloud. Layouts are computer generated. And while one employee uses electronic device to measure floor space and  Vassberg’s husband Jerry uses an old-fashioned tape measure, she herself tends to count ceiling tiles for rough measurements.

“I really should have moved to a smaller office long ago,” Vassberg noted. In fact, 18 months ago she began the search for a suitable space. This summer, Vassberg chose a 2,000 square foot office that includes space for Valley Designs’ upholstery department and is located in the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce building.

Read more of this story by Eileen Mattei in the October print edition of Valley Business Report, out now.