It’s a hell of way to start the day — much less the week — but recent retail activities have caught my attention and in no particular order have caused me to ponder exactly what is going on out there.
Join me in the following:
Wayfair To Open Second Store: The news that the big online home furnishings seller would debut its second store next year, in Atlanta, was a big deal. But let’s put it in context. This will have taken more than two years since its first store, outside Chicago, and to truly be the omnichannel retailer it needs to be if it’s ever going to be truly successful it needs a lot more locations. I compare it to Ikea, the retailer with the closest retail format, and they have 50 stores in the U.S. Opening a store at this pace every two or three years is going to take Wayfair a very long time to achieve that goal.
Ikea Coming to Manhattan: Speaking of the big Swedish home chain, it’s being reported that it will open its first smaller format — still 80,000-square-feet — location in Manhattan as part of a commercial tower set to be completed in 2028. I like that Ikea is trying all kinds of different formats and sizes apart from its ginormous mothership locations so this is a big deal. Again, like Wayfair, they’ll need a lot more of these in big cities around the country to balance out its portfolio.
Container Store CEO Out: As the niche specialty retailer comes out of bankruptcy under new ownership it has essentially fired the president who ran the place the past couple of years. Satish Malhotra came over from Sephora in 2022 and in fairness most of the company’s problems were well-entrenched by then so you can’t really blame him for what happened. The new investor types who now control CTS seem to be going for operational and financial guys and that’s fine but they need merchandising expertise too. Let’s hope that isn’t lost in the translation or they’ll be back in chapter 11 again and the next time it will be liquidation not reorganization.
Zuilily Sold Again: Just a year after buying the online brand, Beyond Inc. — parent to Bed Bath & Beyond and Overstock — has unloaded it, to a company that seems to specialize in distressed merchandise. Maybe they’ll make it work but it’s only the latest example of Beyond’s reversals in branding, management and just about everything else…all while failing to improve its business to any measurable degree. Still worried this is not going to turn out well.
Time to look away from all of this now.
WarrensReport 