Ellenton
At Home, a home décor superstore chain based in Plano, Texas, plans to open this fall in the North River Village shopping center at 6126 U.S. 301, across the street from Ellenton Premium Outlets.
The new At Home store would fill 94,000 square feet of anchor space vacated by Kmart in March.
At Home offers everything from kitchen and dining equipment and materials to wall decorations, patio and garden, bedding, rugs, furniture and more.
“We take all of the unnecessary frills out of our home décor superstore and pass all of those savings on to you so we can bring you the biggest selection of styles at the best prices,” the company says on its website.
The former Kmart space is surrounded by a green mesh fence. A sign posted on the fence advises that all of the other stores in the shopping center are open, including anchors Bealls Outlet and TJ Maxx, plus smaller businesses such as Bulk Food Superstore, Chili’s, Dollar Tree, Ellenton Florist, King’s Wok, Mattress One and more.
At Home recently applied for a Manatee County sign permit for the Ellenton address that would spell out “At Home” with the “o” in the shape of a house, which is the company logo.
The company has been in a growth mode, opening 11 new stores in the first quarter of fiscal 2020 and ending the quarter with 191 stores in 38 states, according to the At Home website.
The company has added 35 stores since the first quarter of fiscal 2019, representing a 22.4 percent increase.
Among At Home’s inventory of stores are seven in Florida, the closest to the Bradenton area being one in Lutz in Hillsborough County. The company also has stores in Clermont, Kissimmee, Orlando, Lake Mary, Orange Park and Palm Beach Gardens.
In June, At Home chairman and chief executive officer Lee Bird announced that the company had achieved nearly 20 percent net sales growth for the first quarter, and also offered his perspective on the rest of the year.
“We are updating our outlook to reflect a softer start and recent industry trends, the related markdowns and the margin impact of recently raised 25 percent tariffs. However, we have a strong, fresh assortment for the important fall and holiday selling seasons and compelling marketing campaigns to maximize performance,” Bird said.
“As an everyday low price retailer, we will remain sharp on price to deliver the great value our customers expect of us. We are focused on delivering on both our near and longer-term goals as we expand the At Home brand toward its full potential.”
Casto is the leasing agent for North River Village shopping center. The Ellenton location offers some key numbers that would appeal to a home decor superstore, including a population of 109,281 within a five-mile trade area, which is expected to grow to 127,307 by 2022, according to the Casto website.
And then there is the all-important vehicle traffic: 33,000 vehicles a day on U.S. 301 and 88,000 a day on Interstate 75.
“At Home looks for vibrant retail centers with a compelling mix of other destination retailers, good visibility and easy access for customers. The location in Ellenton met all of the company’s criteria, serving as an ideal location to pen a new retail store,” an At Home spokesperson said in an email Monday.
The company typically hires about 25 staff members per location.
Lindsay Brama, co-owner of Bulk Food Superstore, said she was pleased that a new store would be moving in to fill the void left by Kmart.
“It will definitely pick up the slack. Kmart was pretty quiet. I can kind of see why they closed. TJ Maxx and Bealls are definitely a bigger draw to the mall than Kmart was, but we are looking forward to something being in that space,” Brama said.
The Ellenton Kmart and the Bradenton Sears, located in the DeSoto Square mall, were among the more than 80 store closings announced by Sears Holdings at the end of 2018.
This story was originally published July 01, 2019 1:32 PM.
