Atrium Furniture Mall In High Point On Market For $27 Million

Furniture World News

Alpha World Properties, LLC (AWP), has listed the Atrium Furniture Mall for $27,237,000. For 21 years the building has been a successful retail furniture mall—one of only two in the U.S.—but with the continued growth of the Furnishings Capital of the World’s wholesale showroom space (since 2004, now expanding another 698,000 square feet to 12.2 million), the vision for the property now includes increasing the wholesale space to equal if not exceed the amount of retail showrooms. “The building was originally developed in 1984 to be a six-story furniture showroom that would be developed in stages,” says visionary owner Steve Ikerd from Hickory, NC. “We expanded the property in 1986 and 1990 and have traditionally had a waiting list for retail showroom tenants.” Audie Cashion, President of AWP and the listing broker for the property. “It’s a new concept but the time has come for a wholesale/retail combination showroom in High Point.” “The property is selling at a 10% capitalization rate with a 29% internal rate of return,” says Cashion, who is an 11-year furnishings exporter and investment real estate specialist. “The combination is a great fit because of two reasons: High Point is recognized as the Furnishings Capital of the World with 80,000 wholesale buyers and exhibitors coming twice every year, and the general public knows High Point as the place to see the largest selection of designs and manufacturers—some 300,000 retail shoppers visit High Point annually to see the broadest selections of products and get the best deals. “Having marketed furniture overseas, it was always a challenge for me to get enough product on a retailers’ floor for the furniture shoppers to see, touch and experience,” he adds. “This challenge has been faced by all furniture manufacturers and that is why large top of the line companies started with the Gallery concept, then Home Furnishings Store and more recently company-owned stores.” According to Cashion, with this unique wholesale/retail combination vision here in High Point, a manufacturer or importer (“company”) could not only show their product to their distributors at Furniture Market, but could show them best practices for how the product should be marketed and displayed given that company’s actual experience with retail shoppers. This could achieve several things for the furniture company: (1) in this economically challenging times it helps them become even more of a resource to their distributors and retailers with firsthand feedback from the customer, (2) it amortizes their Furniture Market showroom expense over a full year, where the showroom becomes a profit center because of retail sales, rather than just an expense item, (3) it gives that company a place to test new introductions and show all of their product at retail where they know some 300,000 shoppers and interior designers come annually to buy, (4) the Atrium location is already a proven and widely-known retail showroom location, and (5) with ample on-site parking and only four minutes walk from “the heart of furniture land,” it easily is a great wholesale location. “I can see big names interested in an economically viable and effective vision like this. Either newer exploding companies like an AICO International, large multi-brand manufacturers like Furniture Brands International or La-Z-Boy, or new to market companies who would want to initially start by leasing space, and then be able to comfortably expand. I was contacted by an Asian furniture exhibition organizer representing some 300 manufacturers, and this vision would be perfect for their needs in their new-to-market position,” said Cashion ATRIUM FACTS The Atrium Furniture Mall was originally built as a six-story wholesale showroom in 1984 that could be built in phases. Now 223,000 square feet of showroom space with an additional 90,000 square feet are available for expansion. 2.9 acres of land and 163 parking spaces with overflow parking across the street. For Sale: $27,237,000 For Lease: contact Audie Cashion For more details, AWP’s website is www.AlphaWP.com or you can reach Audie Cashion at 336.886.8899.