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04262010 Rug & Home Wholesale Outlet Opens in Kannapolis, NC

4/26/2010

RUG & HOME WHOLESALE OUTLET
OPENS 96,000 SQ. FT. STORE

 
Artist's rendering of new Rug & Home Wholesale Outlet  in Kannapolis, NC in the greater Charlotte metropolitan area. The store opened April 9.

KANNAPOLIS, NC— Rug & Home has opened a 96,000 sq. ft. retail store here. This is the third and largest unit for the rug and home furnishings retailer, which also operates stores in Asheville, NC, and Gaffney, SC.

The Kannapolis store will be known officially as the Rug & Home Wholesale Outlet to differentiate it from its sister units in Asheville and Gaffney, according to Aanchal Agarwal, chief operating officer.

In addition to a  sales area of approximately 81,000 sq. ft., the building has approximately 15,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space, which will allow the company to buy in greater volume.

 â€œProviding exceptional pricing and value for the customer has always been our main focus,” said Agarwal. “With our increased buying power, we’ll be able to provide discounts we have never offered before at all three of our locations.”

The new Rug & Home occupies an existing building  formerly occupied by Target.  The store opened to the public on April 9, 2010, and an official Grand Opening celebration was held April 23.

 "Over the course of the soft opening, staff members have been hired and trained, and the store has been fully stocked with more than 50,000 items—from rugs to furniture and artwork to home accessories," said Rakesh Agarwal, company owner.

 The company has been looking at the Charlotte market for a long time, according to Aanchal Agarwal. “The  proximity to Charlotte’s city center and Greensboro, along with the opportunity it presented for us to renovate and occupy the empty building, proved the perfect fit for us.”

 
The Agarwal family: Dolly, standing left, daughter Aanchal, standing right, and Rakesh, seated.

Rakesh Agarwal noted that the company was in the right place and even at the right time for growth.

“Expanding in this economic climate has certainly been challenging,” he said. “But, as the availability of this premium space shows, it has also provided us with unique business opportunities that we may not have had otherwise.”

 Like the  Rug & Home Asheville and Gaffney stores, the Kannapolis location is located just off of the highway—in this case, exit 58 off of I-85.

While both Agarwals call the Target building renovation a “relatively simple turnkey operation,” they, and the City of Kannapolis, acknowledge the considerable investment.

 The company’s biggest expense came in the form of a complex rack system to hang the store’s thousands of rugs. A total of 65 rug racks were installed in the new store. To offset the start-up costs,  the Kannapolis City Council approved an incentive grant that will rebate 85% of the property taxes for three years.

Rug & Home was founded  in 1995 by owners Rakesh and Dolly Agarwal. It was recently named runner-up for the 2009 North Carolina Small Business of the Year Award.

 
Rug & Home stores are well known for displaying
mansion-size rugs on specially-built swing-arm racks
.
Rugs are displayed on 65 arm racks.


Rug & Home Warehouse Outlet carries rugs, furniture,
artwork and home accents. Over 50,000 items are in the store.


 

04.26.10


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