Just months after Kmart closed one of its Henderson locations, a store entirely new to the Las Vegas valley has taken its place.
At Home, which claims to be the largest home decor superstore, has expanded to Nevada with its location at 10405 S. Eastern Ave., near Horizon Ridge Parkway. It held its grand opening July 29.
"We carry over 50,000 items and we average about 400 new items per week," said Marcus Williams, store director of At Home Henderson. "Our mission is to affordably make a house a home for everyone."
What makes it different from other home decor stores? Williams said it's significantly larger than most and also has a wide variety of options.
"For example, you're looking for a new blue pillow for your sofa. You go to the competition, they maybe have one, two, three, four styles. We probably have 40 different styles of blue pillows," Williams said. "We carry a complete line of tabletop decor, lamps, wall decor from picture frames to art to clocks, mirrors, seasonal, patio, Christmas."
At Home first started in Texas in 1979 as Garden Ridge before becoming At Home in 2014. The majority of stores are in Texas and the southeast United States, but there are four locations in Phoenix and another four in Utah, with stores in 33 states.
In an area such as the Las Vegas valley, many people move here from all over the country and may already be familiar with At Home.
"We have quite a few of our customers who have come in and they are so excited," Williams said.
But what about the customers who have never heard of At Home before?
"It is a process to get people to understand how large of a home decor store we are," Williams said.
At Home is continuing to expand despite other big box stores closing, such as the Kmart that the Henderson location took over.
"At Home has found a real niche in the marketplace with the selection of what we carry of home decor. We just came out through a tough time economically in our country," Williams said. "People were spending more and more time at home. I think people just realized that if you can make that house a home, you can be very comfortable, you know your life is just that much more enjoyable."
Around half of the Kmart employees who had lost their jobs earlier this year are now part of the At Home team. There are 30 employees so far and Williams plans on expanding his staff.
"Some of these people when the store closed, they've been looking since the store closed. So I was able to put them back to work," Williams said. "... I think it helps in a lot of economic ways. It also brings some excitement to the community. There's something new and different."
