DRAPER, UTAH — R.C. Willey has closed one Utah store, will relocate a second, and is shutting two outlet centers following last month’s opening of a massive superstore here.
The Salt Lake City-based chain held a grand-opening event on April 24 for the newest and, at 160,000 square feet, the largest of its 12 big-box locations, which was built on an 8.5-acre parcel. Its stores, which display majaps, CE, furniture, bedding, flooring, exercise equipment and outdoor products in lifestyle vignettes, are typically 100,000 square feet in size.
In the Draper store, product departments and furniture vignettes are presented along faux storefronts and esplanades, which were afforded by the location’s sprawling footprint.
In concert with the Draper opening, the company closed its nearby Taylorsville, Utah, store and West Jordan clearance center.
In the fourth quarter, it will also move its Orem, Utah, store to a new location and will close its Provo clearance center, the company told TWICE.
The chain, founded as a door-to-door appliance sales business in 1932 by Rufus Call Willey, opened its first storefront in 1949 and was later acquired by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway group at the suggestion of fellow NATM member and Berkshire holding Nebraska Furniture Mart. Led by CEO Scott Hymas, the company operates in four states: California, Idaho, Nevada and Utah.
