Ashley Furniture Homestore to build Jonesboro location
The Jonesboro Sun - December 31, 2007
By Mark Randall

A major furniture store chain plans to build a 38,000 square foot store in Jonesboro.

According to real estate broker Kent Arnold, Ashley Furniture Homestore will build a new store on a 3-acre parcel of land on Parker Road across from Colton's Steakhouse.

"This is a major prototype store they're putting in," Arnold said.  "It's a big deal for that to come in there.  And I think people will want this to come to town."

Arnold said the company looked at locations closer to The Mall at Turtle Creek but decided on the Parker Road location.  Land prices around Stadium Boulevard are selling for $13 to $16 a square foot.  The parcel on Parker Road sold for $6 a square foot, he said.

"They tried to find some other spots but couldn't get the price down," Arnold said.  "I'm trying to buy 1.5 acres across from the mall for $850,000 and they won't sell it even for that.  Anything between Caraway and Stadium on either side is going to be pricey.  You really can't afford the price they are at now."

Arnold said the buyers were looking for highway visibility, and the Parker Road site fit their needs.  The land is next to several restaruants and the Malco Hollywood theater.

High-dollar project

The furniture store will be about a $4 million to $5 million project, Arnold said.

"They are doing surveys, and the architect has it. And the engineers have done the maps on it," Arnold said. "They have oriented the building as to which was it is going to go.  They're really moving on it.  I think this is going to be a major asset to the market."

Headquartered in Arcadia, Wis., Ashley Furniture Industries Inc. bills itself as the top-selling brand of furniture in North America.  The manufacturing and sales company had 18,000 employees and $3.3 billion in sales in 2006.  The company has 310 stores, including two Memphis-area locations and five Arkansas locations - Bryant, El Dorado, Siloam Springs, Springdale and Fort Smith.