[WOW] Bob's Discount Furniture Plots Aggressive Atlanta Expansion

Fresh off its IPO, Bob's Discount Furniture is looking to enter the Atlanta market.  The Connecticut-based furniture retailer which in February went public for the first time in its more than 30 year history, has several Atlanta area stores in its immediate pipeline and a new distribution center to fuel continued growth.  

Bob's started in Newington, Connecticut in 1991, has today grown to more than 200 stores, and was ranked #7 in sales by industry trade magazine Furniture Today in 2024 (results for 2025 are not yet available).  The company has since 2014 been majority owned by private equity firm Bain Capital.  

The company went public on February 5 at $17 but today trades at just over $12, a decrease of nearly 27 percent.  That said, the stock has rallied more than 20 percent over the past week, having been as low as $9.70 on May 6.  

Bob's broke ground in March on a new 800,000 square foot distribution center at 4521 Cavalier Drive in Macon.  The facility, the company's seventh, is expected to be operational in 2027.  The new distribution center is expected to supply about 100 stores around the southeast where the company currently has a limited presence, suggesting that serious regional expansion is planned.  

Plans reviewed by ToNeTo Atlanta indicate that the company has at least four stores in its immediate pipeline for Georgia.  

In metro Atlanta, the company has stores in development in Snellville, Lithonia and Douglasville, with another store coming soon to Athens.  

The Snellville store will measure 37,312 square feet and is opening in Presidential Commons, a Kroger and Burlington-anchored shopping center at 1630 Scenic Highway, Suite 10B.  The new Bob's will open in a onetime JOANN, between existing junior anchors Five Below and Petco.  

In Lithonia, Bob's is opening at 2918 Turner Hill Road in Turner Hill Marketplace where it will open in place of a former American Signature Furniture.  Site plans suggest that the space is 49,319 square feet, and that the store's fellow anchor is Burlington.  

A new Bob's will also open in Douglasville Pavilion where the furniture retailer will open in suite 19A, a 29,435 square foot former Big Lots.  Douglasville Pavilion is located at 2900 Chapel Hill Road and is already home to Target, Ross, Marshalls, PetSmart, and Michaels, among other tenants.  

The new Bob's in Athens is opening at 1791 Oconee Connector in Epps Bridge Centre.  The new store will open in place of Bed Bath & Beyond and likely in an adjacent Party City, too, creating a 39,000 square foot space. The center is already home to Dick's Sporting Goods, Georgia Theatre Company, Ulta Beauty, Best Buy, and Ross, among other tenants.  

Regionally, the furniture retailer also has stores coming soon to Spartanburg, Greenville and Columbia, South Carolina, Raleigh, Charlotte, and Pineville, North Carolina, and Clarksville, Knoxville, Franklin and Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  

The company is backfilling several former American Signature Furniture (ASF) stores, meaning that other former ASF stores in metro Atlanta - such as those in Smyrna and Camp Creek - could be of interest or potentially already in the works.  

In metro Atlanta, Bob's will face stiff competition from several furniture retailers already entrenched in the market including Rooms To Go, Ashley Furniture, The Dump, Georgia Furniture Mart, and Haverty's, among others.  

Have you ever been to a Bob's Discount Furniture?  Are you pleased to see Bob's expanding into metro Atlanta?  Where do you do the majority of your furniture shopping?  

Please share your thoughts below.