![]() The most obvious one is the overall strength of the home furnishings sector. However, At Home has certain advantages that have allowed it to prosper over the past year. Digital still no doubt accounts for a only minor portion of its overall revenue, while competitor Bed Bath & Beyond is now getting nearly one-third of its revenue from e-commerce. So, how in the world did this happen? At Home’s stores are still often located in subprime retail space, and the company only launched its online business in November 2020. Today, the company operates 225 stores in 40 states, and Bird says the plan to take the chain up to 600 locations is still part of its “long-term journey.” When At Home went public in 2016, it had 115 stores in 29 states, and was doing about $500 million in business but making no profit. Then, in 2014, it was revived with a new name, new investors, and a strategy that brought store sizes down (even though they still often measured more than 100,000 square feet). It crashed and burned, filed for bankruptcy in 2004, and teetered on the brink for years. It was built on the bones of another big-box home chain, Garden Ridge, which featured giant stores-as large as 175,000 square feet-often in less-than-prime locations, scattered mostly throughout Texas and the rest of the Sun Belt. “As we look forward, we have never been more confident in our ability to capture the large opportunity ahead,” he said on the earnings call.Īt Home has a somewhat convoluted history. At Home’s stock, in the meantime, has been trading recently in the $27 to $34 range, a more than tenfold increase from its low a year ago.Īccording to CEO Lee Bird, the company is just getting started. All the other financial metrics-profits, long-term debt and cash flow-also showed nice improvements. (Remember, that comparison is to a pre-pandemic period.) For the year, revenues were up 27 percent, with comp sales up just under 20 percent. In its fourth-quarter earnings, which were released last week, the company reported sales up more than 41 percent, with comparable store results up nearly 31 percent. In a category that includes uber-successful home furnishings retailers like RH, Williams-Sonoma and Ikea, At Home is holding its own-and then some. Its stock was trading for less than $2 a share, analysts were talking about an imminent bankruptcy filing, and the company’s financial ledger was not a pretty picture.īut that was all before COVID-19 hit the headlines in the U.S. A year ago, the big-box home furnishings retailer At Home was near the top of many people’s endangered retail species list, a business seemingly on life support. ![]()
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