Editor’s Note: The New Haven Register reported Friday that HomeGoods is opening within Marshalls in the shopping plaza, which is different than what is reported in the story below. Click here for an updated story.
HomeGoods, a discount home furnishings retailer, has plans to open in Ansonia, Mayor David Cassetti announced Tuesday (June 13).
The chain will open a location in the Big Y shopping center on Main Street, the mayor told Aldermen during their monthly meeting.
Cassetti said he got a call with the good news two days ago from from Alan Schwartz, the president of Glen Equities, which owns the shopping center.
“HomeGoods is a global leader in the retail market,” Cassetti said, calling the company “a leading off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in the U.S. and worldwide.”
In an email Tuesday, Lisa Zahn, a public relations manager for the company, said to stay tuned.
“HomeGoods has not announced plans to open in Ansonia CT at this time,” Zahn said. “Due to competitive reasons, we prefer to release opening information closer to a completion date.”
The mayor said he’s confident the company will be coming — and sooner rather than later, estimating the new location will be up and running in about a month and a half.
HomeGoods is owned by TJX Companies, which also owns T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, another tenant in the Big Y plaza.
Cassetti estimated the company will be hiring “at least 40 jobs” to staff the store, which he said will take up a roughly 6,000-square-foot spot formerly occupied by Aaron’s, between Bob’s and Marshalls.
ethan fry photo
The former location of Aaron’s in the Big Y shopping center in Ansonia.
HomeGoods tries to offer shoppers “top fashions and brands from around the world” at prices about 20 to 60 percent below department stores, according to its website.
The company plans to build on the success of the HomeGoods brand by expanding to 81 new stores in 2017, its chief executive told investors in February, according to this article by retaildive.com
The retailer has current locations on the Boston Post Road in Milford and Hawley Lane in Trumbull, as well as Danbury, New Milford, and Southington.
Sheila O’Malley, the city’s economic development director, said the new Ansonia location will give the company “a presence on the Route 8 corridor.”
She said companies like HomeGoods coming to Ansonia is also good news because most of their stores are in more suburban markets.
“We are beginning to see more retail and restaurant clusters in Ansonia and that means more choices for residents and visitors,” O’Malley said. “This is an exciting time for Ansonia.”
One store coming to the city won’t mean a magical, multi-million-dollar jump in the grand list, of course.
But city officials said they hope the positive momentum will snowball into more good news.
The mayor and O’Malley pointed to a property adjacent to the nearby Target development, where a developer is hoping to attract three more retailers to downtown.
Meanwhile, a number of new restaurants are open on Main Street, and the city just embarked on an ambitious Main Street redevelopment project.
“As the city develops and more businesses come in, people look at that,” Cassetti said.
