Furniture chain closes 2 stores in Las Vegas
Furniture chain Ashley recently opened its biggest North American store in the Las Vegas suburbs, building it from the ground up in a fast-growing area.
But this isn’t the only change to its Southern Nevada footprint.
Ashley also closed two stores in Las Vegas — one in the downtown area, the other near Summerlin — and sold the buildings for millions in recent months.
Its former outpost on Martin Luther King Boulevard at the Spaghetti Bowl is slated to have a child-abuse support center, while its former store on Sahara Avenue at Fort Apache Road is being occupied by Spirit Halloween, the seasonal chain that takes over empty retail space for a few months to sell costumes and decorations.
Spirit Halloween says online that its location in the former Ashley store will open this month.
Real estate moves
Ashley sold its property on Sahara — in the Canyon Lakes Plaza strip mall — for about $6.5 million in late March, property records show. Several days later, it closed the $26.65 million sale of its 9.4-acre downtown-area campus to Clark County.
The county’s purchase included Ashley’s showroom and warehouse building, as well as an office building and multiple billboard and cell-tower leases, county records show.
As part of the deal, the county leased the main building back to Ashley, rent-free, for a limited period, as the retailer may have needed additional time until its new store in the southwest Las Vegas Valley was ready, records show.
Clark County commissioners approved the deal on March 18.
At the time, county spokeswoman Jennifer Cooper said the county acquired the property for long-term space planning needs, including a new location for the county-run Southern Nevada Children’s Advocacy Center.
Wisconsin-based Ashley, which says it is the largest furniture store brand in North America, boasts more than 1,100 stores in 70 countries.
The company declined to comment for this story.
‘Flair for innovation’
Ashley, which still operates a store in Henderson and another in the northern valley, held grand-opening events for its newly built location in the southwest valley in June. The store, near Sunset Road and the 215 Beltway, features a two-story, 88,000-square-foot showroom and a two-level, 218,000-square-foot warehouse.
It’s also next to rival furniture dealer Ikea.
Ashley purchased the 20-acre site in 2020 for about $27 million, and county commissioners subsequently approved its plans for a showroom and distribution center.
In summer 2023, the Clark County Building Department issued a commercial building permit, valued at $19.6 million, for the new retail warehouse, records show.
The company has said that it picked America’s casino capital for its largest store because of Las Vegas’ “flair for innovation and reputation for being a national furniture destination.”
World Market Center, a massive furniture-showroom complex, is located in downtown Las Vegas.
Management says the 5 million-square-foot campus at the corner of Bonneville Avenue and Grand Central Parkway showcases more than 4,000 furniture, gift and home-decor manufacturers and exhibitors.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
