If you've ever driven down I-95 in New Haven, you probably noticed the massive neon sign on the facade of the Jordan's Furniture building. At first, you take the name at face value. It's a furniture store and nothing more. But after a closer look you realize that adjacent to the front of the building are other signs beckoning customers inside for more than just mattresses and end tables. The store offers IT, an indoor ropes course that they boast as being the world's largest, as well as customizable pizza and ice cream. While the added features are indeed enticing, and any time is a good time for some pizza, it's not what we've come to expect from our furniture providers.

In the age of millennials, it seems that businesses are beginning to offer more than what their name would have you believe. They have taken on a trend of creative refiguring to attract a new market that is looking for more than the traditional shopping experience. EleMar, for instance, is one such business. The company, which is primarily a natural stone wholesaler, has emerged from the Stone Age of the traditional business model to offer their customers more, and in a creative way.

"[We] give people more than one reason to come here," says Carl Harris, owner of EleMar. And it's true. EleMar, which has been located in New Haven's Science Park for 35 years, offers a myriad of services, including the import of stone and wood fire pizza ovens, providing cooking and art classes, and showcasing the Shona Gallery which is the leading gallery for Shona art in North America.

The front end of their business is distribution of unique, natural stone, for which they are internationally recognized. The types of stone they supply include marble, granite, soapstone, and onyx, and each stone has different characteristics. Granite is very common and is typically used for countertops because of its durability. Marble is typically used for sculpture since it is soft and doesn't reflect much light. It can be used for countertops, but its softness makes it more sensitive since the surface could be tarnished from acidic substances. Like marble, soapstone is also soft, but since it's not porous it can be resistant. Onyx is both soft and porous, and can also be translucent when lit from behind. Light is often used with onyx to bring out the different colors it can come in.

Stone can be found all over the world, but the places where it can be cut and polished are limited. Most stone is sent to Brazil, India, and Italy where it can be cut into slabs and chosen by buyers. Once the stone is imported to EleMar, it lives in their warehouse which they choose to display in natural light so that their clients can get a better sense of what the stone will look like once it's in their homes. Clients use their stone for both home and commercial projects.

But EleMar didn't stop there. Wanting to reach a wider audience, they decided to offer more. The Shona Gallery allows the company to draw in the art crowd who may not have come in otherwise but are able to benefit from knowing a good stone supplier. The term "Shona" refers to African stone sculptures, which the gallery displays. Since 1996, the commercial gallery has featured over 900 artists who come from sub-Saharan countries including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi. Local artists are also showcased, which EleMar is able to find through the New Haven Arts Council and word of mouth. In terms of the gallery, Harris says the "benefit for everyone is exposure." The artists are able to showcase their work to an audience that may not have been able to see it otherwise, and EleMar is able to showcase their products to an audience that could also be potential customers. In addition to extra exposure, the gallery offers extra income for EleMar. There are no upfront costs for artists, but for every piece of art that gets sold the business gets a commission.

Their classes and events also allow them to draw in an audience that could benefit from the front end of their business, but perhaps would not have thought to come in otherwise. Their classes range from art, sculpture, pizza, and cooking courses for which they have CIA-trained professionals on staff. Restaurants from all over the country even send their staff to learn from their professional pizza classes. EleMar also imports traditional wood fire pizza ovens for restaurants and home owners.

"The businesses feed off themselves," says Harris. Artists coming to see the gallery may stay to look at the stone for a project they're working on, or customers coming for a pizza class may end up buying an oven for their own. As Harris puts it, "there's something for everyone."

Whether you come for the granite and stay for the sculpture, or want to learn about pizza and end up buying an oven, there's more than one reason to keep coming back to EleMar. "All of our customers have an experience," says Harris.