The Container Store opens first New York small-format store

Dive Brief:

• Marking the retailer’s eighth small-format location, The Container Store will open in Huntington, New York, on Saturday, the company announced Tuesday in a press release.

• This is the retailer’s first small-format store in New York. The store will have a Custom Spaces Studio showing closet, living and garage examples, as well as a design center. The Container Store’s private lines Elfa, Avera and Preston will be on display.

• The Huntington location will offer in-store design services, Custom Spaces in-home design consultations, professional installation and in-home organization services.

Dive Insight:

As The Container Store continues to expand its footprint, the Huntington store is the retailer’s sixth location in New York state and 102nd location in the country.

“Our differentiated offering of custom spaces, complementary organizing solutions and in-home design services is a retail experience customers new to The Container Store have never had before, and we are pleased to bring this offering closer to existing customers in the area who have shopped our surrounding locations,” Senior Vice President of Stores Jennifer Pape said in a statement.

To celebrate, The Container Store will host a ribbon cutting, facilitate in-store product demonstrations and hold a giveaway for a $500 Custom Space. Customers who sign onto the retailer’s loyalty program that day will also receive a free gift while supplies last. The next weekend, the first 100 customers to enter the store on March 30 will earn a $20 gift card.

The Container Store has been consistently announcing new stores: The retailer added a Gaithersburg, Maryland, location Feb. 27, but it laid off 100 employees not long after. The company let go of roughly 2.5% of its workforce following lowered guidance for the fiscal year.

For its third quarter, The Container Store’s net sales fell nearly 15%. Comparable sales declined almost 17%. The retailer at the time also lowered its full-year guidance for the year ending March 30. Home goods as a sector hasn’t grown for some time now, continuing its post-pandemic slide with sales down 6.3% in February. The Container Store made Retail Dive’s bankruptcy watchlist in the fall.

The retailer has shaken up its leadership recently. Earlier this month, the company added industry veteran Karen Stuckey and LL CEO Charles Tyson to its board of directors. At the beginning of the year, the company promoted two executives to report directly to CEO Satish Malhotra. Lindy Rawlinson was previously executive vice president of e-commerce and digital marketing but has since been promoted to chief digital officer. Pape, formerly vice president of stores, was promoted to senior vice president of stores.

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