OMAHA, NEB. –
Nebraska Furniture
Mart (NFM) may be heading to The Lone
Star State.
The 74-year-old CE, appliance and
home-furnishings emporium is planning
to build a $1.5 billion, 430-acre mixed-use
complex in the North Dallas suburb of The
Colony that would house stores, movie
theaters, a convention center and its own
two-story, 1.8 million-square-foot retail,
warehouse and office facility.
The NFM showroom alone would be
about 550,000 square feet, executive VP
Bob Batt told TWICE, or 100,000 square
feet larger than the company’s megastore
in Kansas City, Kan.
Construction on the project, which
could attract 8 million visitors and
generate upward of $800 million in
revenue annually, could begin as soon
as March, pending certain zoning and
tax procedures and approval of the
city council. Batt said the company is
“extremely optimistic” that the development
will get the go-ahead, and is projecting
a 2015 opening.
Texas represents the third multiregional
foray for Omaha-based NFM, which operates
two showrooms in Iowa and opened
the Kansas City complex in 2003.
The move into the Lone Star State
would also put the Berkshire-Hathawayheld
business in direct competition with
Conn’s, the Texas-based appliance, CE
and furniture chain. Both retailers belong
to the NATM Buying Corp., the 11-dealer
buying organization whose bylaws preclude
members from encroaching on
each other’s trading areas.
Batt said it was premature to comment
on any marketplace conflict with Conn’s
and NATM president/executive director
Bill Trawick was unavailable at press time.
Batt noted that NFM had been searching
for new terrain since the Kansas City
opening, when owner Warren Buffet observed,
“This is great — we should do this
again.” The company has since “done a
lot of due diligence,” Batt said, and described
Texas as “a fascinating, positive
market and a fabulous opportunity.”
He added: “We don’t open a store a
week. We’re very patient.”
