Restoration Hardware outlet opens in Christiana
A pair of home furnishing stores and two new eateries are joining the Christiana retail market.
Restoration Hardware held a grand opening Thursday for its new outlet store in the Christiana Town Center off Del. 273.
Meanwhile, the furniture chain Raymour and Flanigan, along with the fast-growing burger joint Shake Shack and the Mediterranean-inspired Zoës Kitchen, have signed leases to join the Christiana Fashion Center in the coming months.
“It’s always important to have a good mix of retail and food for your customers, and we’re working to offer a great lineup of both,” said Jim Oeste, vice president of real estate for Allied Retail Properties, which owns both shopping centers.
Restoration Hardware’s outlet stores, which go by the name RHOutlet, sell furniture, lighting, bathware, home décor, outdoor and gardening furnishings – typically at discounts between 20 and 50 percent. The new store will be offering a flat, 40-percent discount through May 23.
The California-based company operates just 18 outlets in 12 states, along with 69 “design galleries” throughout the United States and Canada.
The Christiana store is Restoration Hardware’s first location in Delaware. Previously, the closest outlet was in the Philadelphia Premium Outlets in Limerick, Pennsylvania, while the closest Restoration Hardware gallery is at The Court at King of Prussia, northwest of Philadelphia.
The publicly-traded company’s 2016 annual report says its outlet stores, “serve as an efficient means to sell discontinued or irregular inventory outside of our core sales channels.”
The retailer’s newest outlet store is located in a 31,000-square-foot space previously occupied by DSW Shoes, which moved last fall to the Christiana Fashion Center about 2 miles to the north at I-95 and Del. 1.
The RHOutlet will face some competition from Raymour & Flanigan, one of three chains that recently signed leases for new locations in the Christiana Fashion Center.
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One of the largest furniture retailers in the country, Raymour & Flanigan will open a store in a 50,000-square-foot standalone location adjacent to the future home of Best Buy.
The electronics retailer Best Buy announced last month that it plans to move its current store at the Center Point Plaza II shopping center off Churchman’s Road into a 46,000-square-foot store into the new Christiana Fashion sometime this summer.
The new Raymour & Flanigan store is slated to open its doors in the fall.
The privately held New York-based company currently operates more than 100 stores, including two Delaware locations off Concord Pike in Brandywine Hundred. The new location will employ close to 20 workers, a spokeswoman said.
Zoës Kitchen, the 20-year-old, fast-casual restaurant chain based in Texas, also will be heading to the first phase of the Christiana Fashion Center.
The chain, which operates about 175 locations in 19 states, is slated to open its first Delaware eatery this summer. The new restaurant will be located in 3,000-square foot space near Ulta and Zoup, a soup-focused fast-casual restaurant also slated to open this summer.
Shake Shack, the rapidly growing burger chain and Wall Street darling, also will be launching its first Delaware location in the Christiana Fashion Center.
The 16-year-old company, which now operates about 70 locations around the world, began as a New York City hot dog stand. Its 2015 initial public offering saw share prices more than double in a single day. Its quarterly revenues have continued to outpace analyst expectations, including a 43-percent year-to-year bump to $54 million in the first three months of 2016.
Shake Shack is slated to open 16 new locations this year, including one that will bring its eponymous milkshakes, Angus burgers and crinkle-cut fries to a 4,500-square-foot standalone building between Jared The Galleria of Jewelry and Ulta Beauty.
The roughly 200,000-square-foot first phase of the Christiana Fashion Center also houses REI, The Container Store, Saks Off 5th and Nordstrom Rack.
A second, 200,000-square foot phase of the shopping center is currently under construction. The first tenant to sign on as future tenant there was Ted’s Montana Grill, an Atlanta-based restaurant chain co-owned by billionaire Ted Turner that specializes in bison burgers, meatloaf, steaks, ribs and steaks. The chain is slated to open its first Delaware location in the shopping center by early January.
Oeste said he expects to soon sign a lease with an as-yet-undisclosed retailer that will become the anchor tenant for the second phase of the shopping center.
Previous site plans posted online have identified a combination of Marshal’s and TJ Maxx Homegoods as a potential tenant, along with outlet and discount brands associated with Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, Lemon Pop and Charming Charlie, among others.
Contact business reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.