Conn’s HomePlus is coming into the Jacksonville market with what appears to be at least three operations.
The furniture, mattresses, home appliances and consumer electronics retailer is opening at the former Rooms To Go in Regency Court; hiring for a store-within-a-store at The Avenues mall Belk; and building-out a cross-dock warehouse in Northwest Jacksonville.
Conn’s HomePlus registered a fictitious name with the state July 26 for its Duval County businesses.
Regency Court
Work has begun on converting the closed Rooms To Go store in the Regency area into Conn’s HomePlus.
The city issued a permit Aug. 18 for Action Retail Construction Services LLC to renovate the 29,934-square-foot store at a cost of $1.19 million.
The store is at 9278 Arlington Expressway in the Regency Court Shopping Center near Regency Square Mall.
Action Retail Construction is based in Mesquite, Texas, with a Florida location in Winter Garden.
The build-out approval follows an interior demolition permit issued Aug. 2 at $20,000. Conn’s HomePlus also has applied for signs and other permits, such as plumbing.
Open Studio Architecture of San Antonio is the architect.
Conn’s HomePlus said in a June 1 investor presentation that it would open 10 to 14 stand-alone locations in the fiscal year that ends in January 2023.
Its career site shows an opening for a store manager at the Jacksonville location.
Rooms To Go closed in September as the company opened a larger store in The Markets at Town Center. The Regency area structure was built in 1998.
Through RTG Jax Investors LLC, Forness Properties LLC of Winter Park bought the property June 15 for $3.5 million from a Rooms To Go affiliate.
The Avenues Belk
Conn’s HomePlus is hiring for a specialty sales associate for a new pilot concept within the Belk department store in The Avenues mall.
It posted that job July 28 for 10310 Southside Blvd., which is Belk.
Conn’s HomePlus and Charlotte, North Carolina-based Belk announced June 1 they would launch “Conn’s x Belk” stores, which are store-within-a-store concepts. It also operates at Belk.com.
On Aug. 9, they announced the pilots are in five Belk stores in North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and South Carolina, which held grand openings Aug. 13.
They range from 10,000 to 25,000 square feet of space, depending on the size of the Belk.
Conn’s HomePlus and Belk say the new store format “provides Belk customers with access to Conn’s complementary home product categories, as well as core differentiators like industry-leading white-glove, next-day delivery.”
Conn’s HomePlus said in the June 1 investor presentation that it would open in 10 to 20 more Belk locations this fiscal year.
Cross-dock in Northwest Jacksonville
Conn’s HomePlus plans a cross-dock warehouse in Lane Industrial Park in Northwest Jacksonville.
It posted a job opening for a cross-dock lead associate.
The city issued a permit July 19 for Action Retail Construction Services to build-out a 20,170-square-foot warehouse in Lane Industrial Park Building 1 at a cost of $260,000.
With cross-docking, products are unloaded from a truck, sorted and reloaded onto outbound trucks for delivery.
The business
Publicly traded Conn’s HomePlus said in a June 1 investor presentation that it has 161 stores.
The stores are in 15 primarily Sunbelt states. The company plans to open 13 to 16 new stores in existing states to leverage current infrastructure during fiscal 2023.
It calls itself “a specialty retailer with a unique retail + credit business model” with more than 4,500 employees that include 200 in Florida.
The 14th Florida location is a 40,000-square-foot store that opened July 29 in Pinellas Park. It employs more than a dozen people.
The Florida stores are in Altamonte, Bradenton, Daytona Beach, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Ocala, Orange City, Orlando, Pensacola, Pinellas Park, Port Richey and Tampa.
Conn’s website conns.com said the company started more than 130 years ago as a small plumbing and heating company in Beaumont, Texas.
“Today, we are a growing company with over $1.5 billion in annual revenue and more than 4,000 employees across the southern United States,” it says.
“With the strong belief that everyone deserves a home they love, our mission is to elevate our customer’s home life to home love.”
The company said its primary product categories include:
• Furniture and mattress, including furniture and related accessories for the living room, dining room and bedroom, as well as traditional and specialty mattresses
• Home appliance, including refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers and ranges
• Consumer electronics, including LED, OLED, QLED, 4K Ultra HD and 8K televisions, gaming products, video game consoles and home theater and portable audio equipment
• Home office, including computers, printers and accessories.
It also offers seasonal products.
Conn’s offers in-house credit options for customers in addition to third-party financing programs and third-party lease-to-own payment plans.
Conn’s Inc. said March 29 that sales rose 22.7% in fiscal 2022, which ended Jan. 31, despite industrywide supply chain challenges and the COVID-19 omicron variant in the fourth quarter, “reflecting the continued success of our strategic growth plan, our differentiated value proposition and the hard work and dedication of our team members.”
CEO Chandra Holt said the company posted record e-commerce sales as it expanded digital capabilities.
Holt said pursuing growth across payment options “has de-risked our business, increased our addressable market and improved credit segment performance, which helped drive record earnings in fiscal year 2022.”
During fiscal 2022, same-store sales increased 15.3%, and increased 2.5% on a two-year basis.
E-commerce sales increased 171.3% to a record annual $71.3 million.
Conn’s said that enhancing the credit business is a key strategic priority. It bought lease-to-own technology “that will enable us to originate and service lease-to-own customers in-house.”
Holt said that during current fiscal year 2023, Conn’s will invest in initiatives that strengthen its core, enhance the credit business and accelerate e-commerce growth.
