West Elm closing Reno, NV

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storewanderer
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West Elm closing Reno, NV

Post by storewanderer »

Hilarious. This store when opened in 2016was celebrated by some out of state developers and local politicians as the first national chain retail in downtown Reno since the 90s when Woolworth closed as part of the chain liquidation (I guess the Walgreens at the edge of downtown does not count). Sign of things to come, etc. Of course no other retailers have been dumb enough to open. Perhaps a Dollar General would be a good fit.

Now of course it is closing. No shocker. This is what you get when a virtue seeking developer finds a virtue seeking chain and the chain is dumb enough to sign a lease. West Elm could have had a solid store in South Reno had they opened out there. Oh well.

Their stand up yard letter sign was constantly getting vandalized and kicked over by homeless people and others loitering around.

https://www.rgj.com/story/money/busines ... /88543036/
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Re: West Elm closing Reno, NV

Post by bryceleinan »

storewanderer wrote: April 15th, 2022, 12:28 pm Hilarious. This store when opened in 2016was celebrated by some out of state developers and local politicians as the first national chain retail in downtown Reno since the 90s when Woolworth closed as part of the chain liquidation (I guess the Walgreens at the edge of downtown does not count). Sign of things to come, etc. Of course no other retailers have been dumb enough to open. Perhaps a Dollar General would be a good fit.

Now of course it is closing. No shocker. This is what you get when a virtue seeking developer finds a virtue seeking chain and the chain is dumb enough to sign a lease. West Elm could have had a solid store in South Reno had they opened out there. Oh well.

Their stand up yard letter sign was constantly getting vandalized and kicked over by homeless people and others loitering around.

https://www.rgj.com/story/money/busines ... /88543036/
I’m not terribly surprised, because as you mention, they would have done better in South Reno - like the Summit, or out at Legends. Downtown is not among my places to shop, except for Carter Bros.
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Re: West Elm closing Reno, NV

Post by lake52 »

storewanderer wrote: April 15th, 2022, 12:28 pm Hilarious. This store when opened in 2016was celebrated by some out of state developers and local politicians as the first national chain retail in downtown Reno since the 90s when Woolworth closed as part of the chain liquidation (I guess the Walgreens at the edge of downtown does not count). Sign of things to come, etc. Of course no other retailers have been dumb enough to open. Perhaps a Dollar General would be a good fit.

Now of course it is closing. No shocker. This is what you get when a virtue seeking developer finds a virtue seeking chain and the chain is dumb enough to sign a lease. West Elm could have had a solid store in South Reno had they opened out there. Oh well.

Their stand up yard letter sign was constantly getting vandalized and kicked over by homeless people and others loitering around.

https://www.rgj.com/story/money/busines ... /88543036/

Looks like a beautiful historic building, probably just not a enough stable traffic to make it work. They probably were hoping a bit more development came through in that area.

They opened a store in downtown Sacramento around the same time frame (I think 2016 as well). It also was the first chain retail store in that area. I think that store does quite well though, and many more chain stores have joined it in that area like Bonobos, Blue Mercury, Lovesac, Warby Parker, and now Anthropologie is opening up. I’d imagine some of these downtown stores work, some don’t. It’s an interesting strategy but if you get in the right urban area with some middle to high income development, it’s gotta be quite profitable.
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Re: West Elm closing Reno, NV

Post by buckguy »

Looking at West Elm's locations, I'd say that "virtue seeking" is not their real estate strategy and they along with the rest of William-Sonoma have been ringing up double digit sales gains for a number of years. They are in recognizable upscale properties. Most likely they received incentives for this location, but absent their usual neighbors (stores like bluemercury and others mentioned by lake52) things didn't work out.
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Re: West Elm closing Reno, NV

Post by storewanderer »

lake52 wrote: April 15th, 2022, 5:21 pm


Looks like a beautiful historic building, probably just not a enough stable traffic to make it work. They probably were hoping a bit more development came through in that area.

They opened a store in downtown Sacramento around the same time frame (I think 2016 as well). It also was the first chain retail store in that area. I think that store does quite well though, and many more chain stores have joined it in that area like Bonobos, Blue Mercury, Lovesac, Warby Parker, and now Anthropologie is opening up. I’d imagine some of these downtown stores work, some don’t. It’s an interesting strategy but if you get in the right urban area with some middle to high income development, it’s gotta be quite profitable.
The building is very nice, yes. But this was the wrong use. Offices or some sort of government facility would probably be the right use.

The location is a complete joke. Also I don't think most people even knew the store was there because most middle and high income residents of Reno never go downtown (unless they work down there). Parking is somewhat of an issue. It is not in a spot that will be surrounded by middle or high income development as there is a performing arts theater in one direction, City Hall in one direction, casinos in another, the library in another, a children's museum, various office buildings, and various courthouses in another direction. This is just not stuff that will redevelop into an area producing a lot of middle to high income customers nearby who will shop in that store.

Williams Sonoma has had a long running store in South Reno for many years. The store appears to be relatively successful. It is always well stocked and well staffed. Why they are not just doing a relocation of West Elm out to that shopping center (which has ample open space) is quite interesting to me. They should have opened it there in the first place.
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Re: West Elm closing Reno, NV

Post by veteran+ »

Makes me wonder how their store is doing in Palm Springs within that poorly planned downtown center.

:roll:
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Re: West Elm closing Reno, NV

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: April 16th, 2022, 8:13 am Makes me wonder how their store is doing in Palm Springs within that poorly planned downtown center.

:roll:
At least that was actually a downtown center, and planned for retail, and people were aware it was there.

I didn't realize how many of these types of locations this West Elm chain picked. COVID probably was a really bad thing for these locations. When you open new stores there will be some degree of a failure rate (seems to be a bit high in Reno in general as companies don't always seem to understand how to pick locations in this market, yet on the other end of the spectrum over the years especially back in the 90's many chains have had some of their best performing stores in Reno).

Also still confused why they close and leave the market outright given major growth in the market, tons of wealthy folks moving to Reno from the Bay Area, you would think they would like to shop at West Elm. If West Elm was located in a neighborhood they actually felt safe going into. I guess West Elm does not want their business.
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Re: West Elm closing Reno, NV

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: April 16th, 2022, 11:29 am
veteran+ wrote: April 16th, 2022, 8:13 am Makes me wonder how their store is doing in Palm Springs within that poorly planned downtown center.

:roll:
At least that was actually a downtown center, and planned for retail, and people were aware it was there.

I didn't realize how many of these types of locations this West Elm chain picked. COVID probably was a really bad thing for these locations. When you open new stores there will be some degree of a failure rate (seems to be a bit high in Reno in general as companies don't always seem to understand how to pick locations in this market, yet on the other end of the spectrum over the years especially back in the 90's many chains have had some of their best performing stores in Reno).

Also still confused why they close and leave the market outright given major growth in the market, tons of wealthy folks moving to Reno from the Bay Area, you would think they would like to shop at West Elm. If West Elm was located in a neighborhood they actually felt safe going into. I guess West Elm does not want their business.
It is also downtown Palm Springs. Slightly different demographic than downtown Reno, apparently.

In all seriousness, the store has always been packed when I've shopped there.
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Re: West Elm closing Reno, NV

Post by storewanderer »

rwsandiego wrote: April 16th, 2022, 3:21 pm
It is also downtown Palm Springs. Slightly different demographic than downtown Reno, apparently.

In all seriousness, the store has always been packed when I've shopped there.
The store in Reno was a largely deserted place. If there were more than about 3 customers present at the same time, it was very busy for that store. Hours went by with zero traffic. But I don't think it is a Reno thing or that West Elm is a failure of a format. This was a bad location, plain and simple. They could have been very successful elsewhere in Reno. Whoever made the decision to close this store, made the right decision. However they messed up pretty badly for not coming up with a relocation out in South Reno or possibly Sparks (Legends center). This store probably lost so much money it soured them on the market.
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