Wayfair is set to open only its second large format retail store in metro Atlanta in 2026. The new Wayfair will occupy the former Walmart at The District at Howell Mill, according to a release Friday. The 150,000 square foot box has been vacant since the Bentonville, Arkansas-based discount retailer closed as of January 2023.
The store, located at 1801 Howell Mill Road, is situated below grade but offers visibility off of I-75 and easy accessibility for those in Midtown, Downtown, and Buckhead. Additionally, Howell Mill Road and the overall west side of Atlanta has become a furniture mecca of sorts, with more than a dozen retailers offering furniture and housewares at different price-points.
Room & Board, Westside Market, Bungalow Classic, Serena & Lily, Switch Modern, Natuzzi Italia, and IKEA, located less than three miles from Wayfair at Atlantic Station, are just some of the many furniture stores in the area.
Wayfair, originally an online only retailer, has expanded in recent years into brick & mortar storefronts, the most ambitious effort being their 150,000 square foot, two-story store that opened in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette this past May. The Wilmette store replaced Carson Pirie Scott, a regional department store that built the center in 1956 and was for decades its main anchor.
“We’re quite happy with the halo effect of the store,” Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah said at a retail conference this past December. Although vague on specifics, he and the company seemed pleased enough with how the store was positively impacting other areas of the business - the "halo" - to move forward with expansion. Atlanta is believed to be the "next store" he mentioned they were already working on in December.
"The Wilmette store has delivered outstanding results, contributing to sales from the state of Illinois growing more than 15% faster than the U.S. overall, from the store launch through the end of 2024" the company said in the Friday release.
The Boston-based company (NYSE:W), reached a new 52 week low Thursday when it closed at $31. Its 52 week high was $76.18. The company has been on a roller coaster over the past few years having reached an all-time high of $343.68 on March 26, 2021.
The company opened a new outlet store in Augusta this past January and also operates a fulfillment center in McDonough, which should ensure fast delivery of in-store purchases at the new Howell Mill store.
In addition to its namesake brand, Wayfair also operates AllModern: "Modern made simple," Birch Lane: "Classic style for joyful living," Joss & Main: "The ultimate style edit for home," and Perigold: "The destination for luxury home."
Atlanta-based Selig Enterprises developed The District at Howell Mill in 2006 but in recent years sold the majority of their interest in it to JLL Income Property Trust, a division of LaSalle Investment Management, a global real estate investment firm.
Another Walmart in Dunwoody that closed this past July remains vacant. Real estate sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that the Dunwoody store in Perimeter Village (4725 Ashford Dunwoody Road) was at least briefly a contender for the Wayfair store, but ultimately the former Howell Mill store won out. At 183,500 square feet, the Dunwoody store is significantly larger than the Howell Mill store and is far more suburban.
Nothing is done yet, but separate real estate sources suggest that Kroger may be involved in talks to bring their large-format store to Perimeter Village instead.
Are you pleased to see Wayfair opening a store in metro Atlanta? Do you already shop Wayfair online? Where do you do the majority of your furniture shopping?
Please share your thoughts below.
20 comments:
I would love to see Wayfair's physical store in Atlanta. I have shopped their online store before.
We all know that Perimeter store location is doomed, The ‘Lennox Mall plague” has also infested the Ashford Dunwoody area, ann dat beez trooo!
This is exciting news. My son and his family live near there, so I will check it out when I visit them. I buy a good bit from Wayfair.
Wrong former Walmart. This is occupying the former Howell Mill store.
Wrong former Walmart. This is the one on Howell Mill.
given wayfair's financial performance, I wouldn't count on the store existing very long
Is the plague a constant misspelling and mislabeling of the shopping center? Because there is no such place as “Lennox Mall.” Unless of course you invented it in your mind…..
Let dat lootin, returns-scamin, and shopliffin begin!
Oh Howell Mill, the traffic is bad….you have to pay for parking…..things don’t stay open long….horrible part of town….blahh blahh pppptttttttt…….
Until they steal everything and set the place on fire all the time like the old Walmart
that’s all we need, is to replace the former dunwoody (ahem) ghetto Walmart which was an island of ghetto in one of the most sought after exclusive areas in the metro with yet another ghetto Kroger. Why does every Kroger within five minutes of the grand opening become a ghetto Kroger? I still don’t believe how they have so many loyalists but yet you can’t depend on them for any kind of fresh food. The only thing I would trust at Kroger, and just barely, are canned goods, The book department and the balloon department. up up and away in my beautiful balloon.
People who call Lenox Square Lenox Mall are usually new in town, or not from around here, or have never been there.
It's kind of like someone with a heavy Northern accent that instantly brands them as an "outsider".
Not to mention all the theft that will take place there, just like the old Walmart.
That’s simply not true. Most actual Atlanta locals have always called it Lenox Mall or simply Lenox. Nobody casually calls it Lenox Square. You sound like the actual outsider.
I call it Lenox Mall all the time. Why does that bother you so much?
Actually it IS true that Lenox is called either just Lenox, or Lenox. Lenox Mall is a dead giveaway, and to the person who says locals call it Lenox Mall, you are sorely mistaken my dude.
Alex why does it always bother you so much you have to ask why it bothers everyone else? If it doesn’t bother you then you shouldn’t say anything at all.
Sorry buddy, you’re the mistaken one. Lenox Mall has been used by locals forever. You’re a clown.
I am surprised that Wayfair didn't take over the former Kohl's Superstore space on HBR. Not sure if that space is still vacant or not. It seems upper HBR is dying-versus the area past 400. The small strip shopping center where CityVet is seems to be doing well. There is an independent coffee shop on the corner across from the Shell station that seems to be always busy. The Bank of America is still closed months later. They put an ATM in the shopping center across from Dollar Tree when that branch closed. I am hearing rumours that the off ramp from 400 on to HBR will be expanded and there is a possibility of the Motel 6 and the convienence store across the street being torn down-Eli do you have any info on that? The Waffle House was torn down months ago (but that was due to the vagrants that would hang out there from the Motel 6 and Economy Hotel next door.)
There is only one real ghetto Kroger. That is the one at Georgetown S/C at 285 and Chamblee Dunwoody. That term is lovingly used to distinguish that store from the other one in Dunwoody, the "Kosher Kroger" off Jett Ferry/Mt. Vernon.
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