Heather Mosley | SBJ

Collab Central: Associate Kailyn Guck, a Grooms designer, spends time on a project in the Grooms Design Library. Company officials say nearly every space at Grooms is an open office to facilitate communication. “We have a lot of collaboration that has to happen between the designers, the salesperson – which we call the workplace strategist – and their sales support,” says co-owner Audrey Garard.

Heather Mosley | SBJ

Framed by Focus: Associate Victoria Keith takes a Zoom meeting in this modular office pod by the Room brand that allows for soundproofing, privacy and concentration – with the ability to move or reconfigure the space as office needs change over time. Grooms’ working showroom approach to its own workspace includes showcasing a deliberate, diverse mixture of brands available from Grooms to suit a wide range of industries, from white-collar work to health care.

Heather Mosley | SBJ

Manny: Just beyond the main entrance and the CEO’s office, visitors find yet more of the interconnected series of working showrooms that characterize the Grooms experience. Associate Natalie Oursbourn shares a moment with the Garards’ dog, Manny, a goldendoodle who roves freely through the Grooms complex.

Heather Mosley | SBJ

Holistic Approach: Staffers Ciarra Olivera and Sarah Wittenborn take time to connect in one of the main work areas at Grooms. Company officials say the Grooms office is a highly open space, but divides loosely into zones for focused work, ones for conference and connection, and others for entertaining clients. “It’s a holistic approach to what we do for our clients. Not one solution fits everybody,” says Audrey Garard.

Heather Mosley | SBJ

Year-Round: Grooms’ outdoor patio isn’t a mere showroom: Chamber and community events find their place here, bringing Springfield leaders into a distinctive space for meetings and celebrations. The indoor-outdoor area includes heating elements in the ceiling. When the weather cooperates in fall and winter, Grooms even holds Tuesday team meetings in the great outdoors. When they can, staff sometimes enjoy taking their lunch in this venue.

Heather Mosley | SBJ

CEO Corner: Seated on an Eames chair by Herman Miller, CEO Jonathan Garard holds an impromptu Friday afternoon meeting in his office with Grooms associates (from left) Audrey Watson, Ciarra Olivera and Kailyn Guck. Set near the front entrance so Garard can greet people each morning and evening, the CEO’s office seats 13 comfortably. Garard says he made it a priority to create an informal meeting space. “There’s no need to formally fill a conference room every time someone wants to have a conversation,” he says. A shade Garard calls polo blue covers the walls, marking a design theme based entirely on the U.S. flag. The elements mark Garard’s service in the United States Army.

Heather Mosley | SBJ

Office Envy: Grooms Office Environments

Working Showroom

BY: Gregory Holman and Heather Mosley

Posted online December 28, 2025 | 9:47 am

Architect: Buf Architecture Studio LLC
Designer: Grooms Office Environments

Owners Jonathan and Audrey Garard greeted guests warmly on a recent December afternoon, a fitting gesture for a company that hosted some 400 people and a live band for an open house this past spring after they relocated Grooms to its present facility at 3861 South Ave., formerly home to Wheeler’s Furniture. Founded in 1977 by Olin Grooms and acquired by the Garards in 2015, Grooms is now a full commercial design-build firm that provides interior design, space planning and high-quality furnishings and fixtures.

The Garards and their team put their own stamp on the 16,500-square-foot complex, designing a series of interconnected, largely open workspaces that show off brands like Herman Miller, Muuto, Edelman and myriad others from the MillerKnoll family of companies. The space also shows off what Grooms can do, both in partnership with architecture and engineering firms and in terms of deliverables for a roster of heavy-hitter clients: the city of Springfield, Missouri State University and health care organizations like CoxHealth and Centerstone, just to name a few.

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Office Envy: Grooms Office Environments

Working Showroom

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