Unlocking Healthcare and Senior Living Markets with Sara Marberry
The healthcare and senior living sectors represent significant growth opportunities for contract furniture brands and dealers. While many companies focus primarily on corporate environments, these specialized verticals offer substantial untapped potential for those willing to understand their unique needs and challenges.
Healthcare facilities, including hospitals, clinics, and professional office buildings, contain numerous spaces beyond just patient care areas. As Sarah Marbury, healthcare and senior living design knowledge expert, explains, there are extensive administrative spaces that require traditional office furniture solutions. Many healthcare systems have entire buildings dedicated to housing their administrative staff. In the post-COVID era, these organizations face the same workplace design challenges as corporate America—creating hybrid workplaces that entice employees back to the office.
The telehealth revolution is creating entirely new furniture requirements. Virtual care has become permanent and is expected to grow significantly, changing space requirements throughout healthcare environments. This shift creates demand for telehealth-friendly furniture like acoustically private pods, video consoles, telehealth kiosks with integrated lighting and seating, and professional-looking clinician backdrops. While some of these products overlap with corporate applications, understanding the specific healthcare context is crucial to successful implementation.
Waiting areas represent another significant opportunity. While COVID-19 has prompted some rethinking of large waiting spaces, many facilities—especially major hospitals—still require comfortable, technology-enabled waiting environments. The trend toward hospitality-inspired waiting areas continues, with patients and visitors expecting amenities like charging stations and comfortable seating. Premium healthcare facilities, exemplified by the University of Chicago's hospital with its dramatic seventh-floor waiting area overlooking the lake and city, showcase how these spaces can become signature design statements.
Senior living communities offer additional growth potential, particularly as the baby boomer generation ages. These environments range from independent living to skilled nursing facilities, with varied furniture needs across the spectrum. While traditional office furniture dealers may not carry clinical or patient care products, they can partner with specialized manufacturers to offer comprehensive solutions. The administrative spaces, public gathering areas, and dining facilities within these communities all require appropriate furnishings.
A critical market opportunity lies in renovating and updating existing senior living properties. Many communities built 15-20 years ago now have dated aesthetics that don't appeal to the next generation of residents. This renovation wave creates substantial opportunities for furniture dealers and manufacturers to provide fresh solutions. Additionally, the industry faces a projected $300 billion shortfall in senior living construction by 2030 due to high interest rates, labor shortages, and regulatory challenges. This gap will drive the creation of innovative models, particularly for the "forgotten middle" market between luxury facilities and subsidized housing.
To successfully enter these markets, furniture professionals must develop specialized knowledge. This doesn't necessarily require formal healthcare credentials—one can gain expertise through industry resources, continuing education, and attending healthcare design conferences. Understanding healthcare's evidence-driven, outcome-focused culture is essential. Decision-makers want to know how furniture solutions will improve patient outcomes or operational efficiency, not just how they look.
The language used when discussing senior living is equally important. These are "communities" where people "live," not "facilities" where people are "placed." This shift in terminology reflects a deeper understanding of the dignity and independence seniors desire. Successful furniture providers will recognize these nuances and align their approach accordingly.