Knoxville Wholesale adds Ashley store
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, June 22, 2009
Knoxville, Tenn. — Knoxville Wholesale Furniture has added a fourth store here with the takeover of an Ashley Furniture HomeStores location.
The 41,000-square-foot store, which closed earlier this year after its previous licensee went out of business, has reopened and will conducted an official grand opening promotion this past weekend, said Tim Harris, president and owner of Knoxville Wholesale.
"We were already doing major business with Ashley, but this was an opportunity to grab some market share," Harris said.
He said the store is in the Turkey Creek area of west Knoxville, "probably the best location" in the city in a busy retail corridor.
Harris projected the store will do $8 million to $10 million on an annualized basis and will help push Knoxville Wholesale Furniture's market share in the city to the 40% to 50% range by the end of the year.
He added that the store will use Knoxville Wholesale's in-stock model rather than the typical Ashley model, which doesn't require retailers to carry much inventory. The retailer will inventory Ashley goods in its 130,000-square-foot distribution center, which is attached to a 93,000-square-foot store the retailer opened earlier this year.
"We think that will increase sales 20% to 30% over the normal Ashley model," Harris said.
