Shopping news

HomeGoods sibling Homesense opening doors to first Austin-area store

Homesense sells home furnishings and decor for 20-50 percent less than full-price retailers.

A new off-price home goods retailer is carting in discounted decor, furnishings, and entertaining essentials to Austin: Homesense will make its area debut on Thursday, April 11, in the Lakeline Market.

This will be Homesense's third store in Texas, after a Fort Worth location that opened in mid-March and a store opening in San Antonio on April 11, as well.

It's definitely not a local debut for the store's parent corporation, TJX Companies, however. Framingham, Massachusetts-based Homesense is a sibling concept to popular discount home and apparel stores HomeGoods, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls.

Shoppers will find a rug emporium; wall art and mirror gallery; an extensive lighting department including chandeliers; patio furniture and decor; seasonal décor; faux florals; entertaining pieces like dishes and trays; packaged gourmet food items, and more. New merchandise shipments arrive from around the world every week, the company says.

Prices are touted as 20-50 percent less than full-price retailers, including department and specialty stores.

“Homesense makes curating your dream space even more attainable with its exceptional selection of incredible, quality pieces sold at great values,” said John Ricciuti, president of HomeGoods and Homesense in the U.S., in a statement.

But how's Homesense different from HomeGoods? They explain on their website, "Homesense has more furniture, lighting, rugs, wall art, and dining chairs, plus a General Store department. HomeGoods has more specialty foods, plus Pet and Children's departments."

More details about the Austin opening are expected to come soon.

Find the store at 14208 N. US 183 Hwy. SB. According to the website, opening-day hours on April 11 will be 8 am to 10 pm. Regular store hours will be 9:30 am to 9:30 pm Mondays through Saturdays, and 10 am to 8 pm Sundays.

openings home design shopping

GOB Sale

All Austin-area Big Lots stores hold going out of business sales

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Big Lots

Discount retail chain Big Lots is hosting a massive "GOB" — going out of business — sale, in anticipation of a possible company-wide closure.

The Columbus, Ohio-based chain has not come out and said it is going out of business — but instead that is holding the going-out-of-business sales to protect the value of the company.

"We all have worked extremely hard and have taken every step to complete a going concern sale," Big Lots President and CEO Bruce Thorn said in a statement. "While we remain hopeful that we can close an alternative going concern transaction, in order to protect the value of the Big Lots estate, we have made the difficult decision to begin the GOB process."

The sell-off comes after a stalled sale of Big Lots to Nexus Capital Management, which was in motion after Big Lots initiated bankruptcy proceedings under Chapter 11 in September.

At that time, they executed a first round of closings — a total of 344 stores that included just one in the Austin area. More rounds of closures followed in the coming months.

On December 19, Big Lots determined that the sale would not be moving forward.

According to Fast Company, Big Lots did not explain why it was unable to complete a sale to Nexus, other than reports that an appraisal of Big Lots' inventory came in below expectations, which would make it unviable for Nexus Capital Management buy the company.

While they continue to look for alternatives, the plan now is to do the GOB sale in anticipation of a company shutdown.

Fans will miss Big Lots for their good-quality furniture, household goods, seasonal items, and gourmet foodstuffs, as well as basics like cleaning products and cereal.

There are currently four stores still operating in the Austin area:

Cedar Park: 850 N Bell Blvd., Ste. 104
Round Rock: 1201 S. Interstate 35, Ste. 200, Round Rock
Spicewood Springs: 8666 Spicewood Springs Rd.
Southeast Austin: 801 E. William Cannon Dr., Ste. 135b

closings