One of the South's fastest growing furniture retailers has expanded into Chattanooga with a new outlet in the city's first shopping center.
Farmers Home Furniture opened a 27,000-square-foot store last week in the Highland Plaza shopping center in Hixson. The Dublin, Ga.-based retailer already operates local stores in Jasper and Dayton, Tenn., and in Lafayette and Dalton, Ga.
The new Hixson store, which plans to have its official grand opening on Aug. 2, is managed by Tim Cruver and also has four sales representative and three part-time deliverers. The store features a variety of living room and bedroom furniture pieces, beds and appliances, Cruver said.
Jones Graham, a sales agent for Fletcher Bright Co, said Farmers Home Furniture fills one of the biggest vacancies in Highland Plaza, which was originally developed in 1958 as the city's first suburban shopping center.
"This is another good addition to the center and hopefully attracts even more tenants to fill the spaces we still have left," Graham said. "Since (Walmart's) Neighborhood Center opened (in 2015) there's been a lot more traffic to Highland Plaza."
Over the past five years, Fletcher Bright has redone the parking lot and site lighting, put new facades on the retail fronts and updated landscaping. The 174,877-square-foot center was built 60 years ago and is located where nearly 50,000 vehicles pass every day, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Founded by Sherwin Glass in 1949 as a hometown store in Soperto, Ga., Farmers Home Furniture has since become one of the fastest growing furniture retailers with more than 200 locations in the Southeast. The privately company is one of the top 100 furniture companies in the country.
The new store is open from 10 a.m to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. Farmers Home Furniture stores are closed on Sunday.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.