Weylandts Sibaya and the Showroom Built for Lingering

On 3 October 2026, Weylandts opens its new KwaZulu-Natal home at Reefside Lifestyle & Leisure in Sibaya Coastal City. StudioLandt designed it across multiple levels, with a restaurant, a boardroom and water running through the building. It is the brand’s clearest statement yet on what physical retail should become, and it is made for an unhurried afternoon more than a quick purchase.

Water at the Threshold

Weylandts has put water at the front door of its new Sibaya store, and the choice is telling. You meet a pause before a single sofa or dining table comes into view. It is a moment of stillness against the density of the coastal environment outside, there to let visitors settle before the journey through the showroom begins. It is a small gesture that says a great deal about the thinking behind the space.

The store opens on Saturday, 3 October 2026 at Reefside Lifestyle & Leisure, within the greater Sibaya Coastal City. It is one of the brand’s most ambitious physical expressions to date. Architecture, interiors, furniture and hospitality share one roof, in a format that moves deliberately away from the conventional showroom. “We want our spaces to feel like a world,” says Chris Weylandt, CEO of Weylandts.

The Journey Is the Point

StudioLandt conceptualised the store and treated movement as part of the brief. Across multiple levels, the architecture reveals a sequence of interiors, materials and perspectives, so the route through the building feels as considered as the furniture placed within it. Visitors explore at their own pace rather than follow a set path to the till.

That matters because of how people actually shop for their homes. Furniture is rarely an impulse buy. People want to see it, touch it and picture it in context before they commit. A space that rewards slow browsing gives that process room to happen.

A Material Language Drawn from the Coast

The building takes its cues from KwaZulu-Natal’s coastal character. Granite, basalt, concrete, sand, sea and sugarcane all shape its material language, while darker, earthy tones ground the interiors. The sugarcane reference is a pointed one, and anyone who has driven the North Coast will recognise it at once.

Water returns throughout the showroom as a recurring thread. It brings movement into the space and reflects the fluidity of nature and the passage of time. The result is a store rooted in its place, one that could not simply be lifted and dropped into Sandton or the Waterfront without losing something essential.

Lunch, Meetings and the Business of Staying

“Good living was never only about furniture,” says Weylandt. “It’s about how people gather and connect. We want people to linger, not simply pass through.”

That philosophy takes practical form through Shoots and Leaves, a family run Durban restaurant that brings its farm to table approach into the store. Known for fresh, wholesome food and relaxed dining, it gives the space a distinctly local voice. Visitors can drift from browsing to coffee or lunch without leaving the building.

A dedicated boardroom extends the invitation further, with meeting space for local businesses, creatives and interior designers. For the design trade, the value is clear. They can meet a client, source pieces and talk through a project all in the same building.

Why Sibaya, and Why Now

The location was deliberate. Reefside sits within the broader Sibaya Coastal City precinct, part of the growing coastal corridor that links uMhlanga and the North Coast. Its accessibility, natural setting, architectural character and evolving residential, commercial and lifestyle offering matched closely the kind of destination Weylandts set out to build.

“Sibaya represents thoughtful growth,” says Weylandt. “Its connection to nature, its strong architectural identity and its vision for integrated coastal living resonate deeply with our philosophy. It is an environment that gave us the freedom to create something distinctly Weylandts.”

The move also reshapes the brand’s footprint in the province. Weylandts has consolidated its Ballito and uMhlanga stores into Sibaya, bringing its KwaZulu-Natal presence together in one destination. It is a bet that one richer experience will draw people further than two conventional showrooms ever could.

Launch Weekend and the Longer Game

The opening weekend gives visitors their first full look at the store. There will be festivities across the weekend, and a limited selection of pieces will be available only at Weylandts Sibaya, at special launch pricing. The bigger ambition lies beyond launch day: to create a place people choose to come back to, whether to browse, eat, meet or simply gather ideas.

Measured in Time, Not Transactions

Now that a sofa can be ordered from a phone, a physical store has to earn the visit. At Sibaya, Weylandts makes the visit itself the reason to come: a morning with family, a meeting over coffee, an afternoon inside a building shaped by its coastline. If it works as intended, the store will be judged less by what people carry home than by how long they chose to stay.