Furniture Outlets USA plans complex in Elk River, Minn.
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, January 31, 2011
A rendering shows the three-store retail development that Furniture Outlets USA plans for Elk River.ELK RIVER, Minn. — Furniture Outlets USA will convert its liquidation center here into a home furnishings complex anchored by its 15th Ashley HomeStore and seventh Furniture Mart full-line store.
The Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Top 100 company acquired the 90,000-square-foot former Target building in early 2009 and has been operating it as a furniture liquidation center. The plan all along has been to convert it to a full-line store, but those plans were delayed by the recession.
"The Elk River liquidation center has done fine, but the facility is far too large and too expensive (to operate) just as a clearance center," said Gordy Wallenstein, Furniture Outlets president. "The public has been anxiously waiting for us to convert because that's been our intention."
Furniture Outlets will carve out about 18,000 square feet to lease to Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts.
The remaining 72,000 square feet will be fairly evenly split between the HomeStore and the Furniture Mart, Wallenstein said. He added that the renovated store will feature a towering HomeStore front with a 58- foot peak, helping to draw attention from traffic on Highway 169.
"We'll do a fairly extensive remodeling of the entire building," he said, adding that work on the interior is beginning now and that the company expects to start on the exterior in the spring. The retailer hopes to have the entire complex open by mid- to late summer with the Jo-Ann and HomeStore spaces opening first.
Furniture Outlets will continue to operate a scaleddown liquidation center here until it begins work on the final Furniture Mart phase.
Key suppliers to the midpriced Furniture Mart include Man Wah/Cheers, Aspenhome, Legacy Classic, Trade Masters, Natuzzi, Albany, Futura, Jofran, Intercon and Sealy and Restonic in bedding.
Wallenstein would not disclose the investment or projected sales for the new stores, saying only, "We expect it to be one our top performing stores."
He described Elk River as a competitive market northwest of Minneapolis, about a 15-minute drive from Becker, Minn., and with a large population of consumers with nearby second homes and lake-area cabins.
"We're trying to give people an opportunity to have a great furniture selection and great furniture experience without having to go into the city," he said.
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Complex combines stores
Mar 7, 2012
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