"Washburn Imports" Furnishes Imperial-Grade Fun

Feb 17, 2021 - 16:24 Updated: Dec 11, 2021 - 16:31

"Washburn Imports" Furnishes Imperial-Grade Fun

Photo Credit: The Imperial Wine Bar

Stepping into Washburn Imports offers an unrivaled experience for Central Floridians with a flare for the exotic. Antiques afficionados and wine connoisseurs alike will be dazzled by the fixings and atmosphere of this enigmatic Orlando hideaway. Operating as both a furniture store and a lounge, the Imperial Wine Bar emits an ambience of both Eastern culture and a Western social backdrop, making visitors feel like they've just stepped into an amalgamation of Indiana Jones and A Passage to India.

Pictured: The Imperial's Winter Park location. Photo Credits: The Imperial Wine Bar.

Scouring the world for antiques since 1997, Washburn Imports founder and Winter Park native, John Washburn, voyaged to far-away places throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim, including Indonesia, India, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, and China, to find antique gems for his furniture store.

It all started with a friend in Bali who provided Washburn an opportunity to sell a container of antique furnishings in Orlando. From then on, Washburn endeavored to build one of the most unique furniture stores in the country. “We started this about 22 years ago,” owner John Washburn said. “I travel all throughout Asia. I go into India, Thailand and China, and I buy exotic furniture and we ship it back to our stores. We also do wholesale, too, to Universal Studios, Disney, hotels and restaurants.”

Above: Some of Imperial's cocktails and fine wines on display; John Washburn, founder of Washburn Imports/The Imperial Wine Bar. Credit: The Imperial Wine Bar.

Originally focused exclusively on selling furniture, Washburn opened his bar during the previous financial crisis when sales declined. Before opening his shop in 1997, Washburn worked in the Nightclub business for ten years. With this experience under his belt, he sensed customers longed for more: "Our customers always told us that it was so beautiful that they wished they could use it for a bar in the evenings," he said. The bar now offers food as well.

The hybrid model took the business to new heights. Now Washburn owns three locations. Keeping his original store at Lake Ivanhoe in Orlando, Washburn recently added two new spots, with one the Avenue in Winter Park and another in Downtown Sanford.

"Necessity is the mother of invention,” Washburn said in the Orange Observer. "When the recession hit 10 years ago, people stopped buying houses and stopped buying furniture; they stopped buying a lot of stuff. I had to figure out a way to get people to come into my showroom and see my furniture. I thought, ‘Let me put a bar in the middle of our showroom.’ People are always going ‘Hey, I’d love to hang out in your furniture store.’ I’m like, ‘Well, now you can.’ It ended up being much cooler than I thought it would be. … Our showrooms are all decked out with really ornate, unique and exotic furniture, so they’re really fun places to hang out in."