Home-furnishings store LaDifférence announced on Monday it will close its West Broad Village location in Short Pump next month after less than a year and refocus on its main store in Shockoe Slip.
The 7,000 square foot store will hold a liquidation sale starting this month and running through February, the company said.
Andy Thornton, who co-owns LaDiff with Sarah Paxton, said the store wasn’t seeing foot traffic like at the downtown location on South 14th Street. The pair expanded in February of 2011 to test out the Far-West-End sub-market.
“We sort of got to this position we weren’t picking up many new customers,” Thornton said. “It didn’t translate into serious shoppers.
“We found the people who understood us where coming downtown any way, and it (the downtown store) is six times the size so people were driving the extra 12 miles to come to the main store.”
Thornton also said the increased number of restaurants and bars popping up in the area also cut into the store’s traffic.
“I’d say 75 percent of business is evening traffic,” he said. “People aren’t going to a bar and then coming to pick out furniture.”
This is the second home furnishings store to close this month.
LaDifference’s Shockoe Bottom neighbor, These Four Walls, will close in February. It’s currently holding a liquation sale offering most if its home furnishing items at 33 percent off.
Thornton said the West Broad Village store was making money, but about half of sales were people who were also frequenting the downtown store.
Thornton said the Shockoe store is still doing well.
“We’ve seen about a 20 percent increase in sales in the last four months,” he said.
He said with businesses such as Ledbury, Virginia Street Gallery, and other new retailers popping up, he’s also seen an uptick in store visitors.
But he said with the state of the housing industry, the last four years have been a tough ride.
“I would guess that 50 percent of furniture is sold when people move out of houses and if they’re not moving its going to have an effect on us,” he said.
Home-furnishings store LaDifférence announced on Monday it will close its West Broad Village location in Short Pump next month after less than a year and refocus on its main store in Shockoe Slip.
The 7,000 square foot store will hold a liquidation sale starting this month and running through February, the company said.
Andy Thornton, who co-owns LaDiff with Sarah Paxton, said the store wasn’t seeing foot traffic like at the downtown location on South 14th Street. The pair expanded in February of 2011 to test out the Far-West-End sub-market.
“We sort of got to this position we weren’t picking up many new customers,” Thornton said. “It didn’t translate into serious shoppers.
“We found the people who understood us where coming downtown any way, and it (the downtown store) is six times the size so people were driving the extra 12 miles to come to the main store.”
Thornton also said the increased number of restaurants and bars popping up in the area also cut into the store’s traffic.
“I’d say 75 percent of business is evening traffic,” he said. “People aren’t going to a bar and then coming to pick out furniture.”
This is the second home furnishings store to close this month.
LaDifference’s Shockoe Bottom neighbor, These Four Walls, will close in February. It’s currently holding a liquation sale offering most if its home furnishing items at 33 percent off.
Thornton said the West Broad Village store was making money, but about half of sales were people who were also frequenting the downtown store.
Thornton said the Shockoe store is still doing well.
“We’ve seen about a 20 percent increase in sales in the last four months,” he said.
He said with businesses such as Ledbury, Virginia Street Gallery, and other new retailers popping up, he’s also seen an uptick in store visitors.
But he said with the state of the housing industry, the last four years have been a tough ride.
“I would guess that 50 percent of furniture is sold when people move out of houses and if they’re not moving its going to have an effect on us,” he said.
A 20% increase in sales at the Shockoe Bottom store in the last four months. That is not a phenomenon that just happens. What I am hearing is that the West Broad Village store is exposing West-Enders to the La-Diff brand and bringing them downtown to close the sale.