Try before you buy with virtual reality

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Furniture shopping isn't what it used to be.

Stores are relying less on massive warehouses, showrooms, and catalogs for a more customized shopping experience.

Marxent, a company co-headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, is developing 3-D software that allows shoppers to visualize furniture in their own homes, without ever leaving the store.

Using an iPad, customers can recreate the dimensions of their own living spaces and see whether furniture fits or is what they envisioned.

Virtual reality goggles let you walk through the space and see the furniture from different angles.

Major retailers like Macy's have implemented Marxent's technology at 150 of its stores and La-Z-Boy recently announced it will too.