Massive new furniture store opens in west Wichita
The official opening date for the massive new Wichita Furniture & Mattress in the former Kmart space at 4200 W. Kellogg isn’t until May 16, but owner Jay Storey put an open sign on the marquee on Friday and watched what happened.
“We had a line out there Saturday morning waiting to get in,” he said.
That’s been followed by “an unbelievable steady stream” of customers.
The complete overhaul of the inside and outside of the more than 105,000-square-foot building took a few months longer than expected, but Storey said it was “way worth it.”
“It was a very large project for us,” he said, adding that he’s “super proud of it.”
In addition to all-new everything, Storey bumped out the building’s facade by 40 inches. That may not sound like a lot, but across 430 feet, “It added quite a bit of square footage.”
The store is laid out by categories, such as a 6,000-square-foot mattress area, an infant and children’s section and a La-Z-Boy area, which is a new line for the store.
“Our vision was to create an environment that had kind of something for everyone,” Storey said.
He said since the store is so big, he wanted to make the experience easy for customers by having prominent signs at the front of the store.
“You can pretty much look around and know exactly where you need to go.”
Storey nixed plans for an on-site restaurant where Kmart’s outdoor center had been. Instead, he said it made more sense to use that area for an outdoor furniture display.
The original Wichita Furniture & Mattress will remain open near 13th and Oliver as well. That’s also where Storey’s Furniture on Consignment is. That store, which no longer offers consignment but does sell factory-direct closeout merchandise, is in 10,000 square feet of the 59,000-square-foot larger Wichita Furniture & Mattress store.
Storey also has two Ashley HomeStores in Wichita and may expand that brand, particularly with one of the chain’s outlet concepts. Storey has the Ashley license for Wichita and some surrounding areas.
All of the concepts are part of his parent company, Wichita Furniture.
During the new West Kellogg store’s soft opening, Storey said he’s “still finishing up a few minor details inside.”
Otherwise, everything is ready — including his distribution center that has a deep inventory of most items.
“We stock more products now than we’ve ever stocked,” Storey said.
“Everything that we show . . . is pretty much available . . . ready for immediate delivery.”
Storey said that’s particularly important “in order to create an instant gratification to the consumer.”
