The prime retail spot next to Chick-fil-A in Augusta Exchange has an eager new tenant: BrandsMart.
The Fort Lauderdale-based appliance and consumer electronics retailer has eight stores in South Florida and two stores in the Atlanta market that all together do about $700 million in revenue annually.
This tenth location in Augusta will be the first opening under BrandsMart’s new owner, Aaron’s, an Atlanta-based rent-to-own appliances and furniture company. It acquired BrandsMart in April 2022 for $230 million to expand its addressable market.
“We wanted to round out the Georgia market,” said Rachel George, Aaron’s chief compliance officer. “That shopping center is just so vibrant. It clearly draws in folks from the broader region.”
The store is in the early demolition stages, but is expected to open in September or October. The new owner is forecasting yearly revenue of just under $40 million for the Augusta store.
Leadership from Aaron’s met with members of the Augusta Commission on Tuesday morning to discuss the store’s opening.
“Because Augusta is a destination for the region, it will also help amplify the brand name, and then it may open up opportunities in other communities,” George said.
Aaron’s team said the store will bring over 100 new jobs to the city, spread out across the 39,000-square-foot retail store and a 30,000-square-foot warehouse at 1254 Augusta West Parkway.
The leadership team said it hadn’t yet worked out the average hourly wage for employees.
The company received no incentives from the city before it signed the lease a couple of months ago, George said.
“We’re moving really fast to open the store here,” she said. “So we have not negotiated with Augusta on all that. We just saw the opportunity on the lease and went for it.”
Demand for BrandsMart’s products has been lower than expected in 2023 as challenging macroeconomic factors like inflation force customers to be pickier with their discretionary purchases, according to comments Aaron’s CEO Douglas Lindsay made to investors on a call in April.
In-store and e-commerce sales for BrandsMart fell by about 18% in the first three months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
But Douglas spoke positively about the future Augusta store.
“We are confident that our brand and our customer value proposition will resonate in this new market,” he said.
BrandsMart reported about $144 million in sales and $35 million in profit for the first three months of 2023, with e-commerce sales making up about 9% of total sales. The store is expected to report revenue of between $645 million and $675 million for the full year, according to financial reports.
Aaron’s has approximately 1,260 company-operated and franchised stores in 47 states and Canada.
