Havertys Furniture Is Opening New Stores In Spaces Vacated By Joann Fabrics And Big Lots--But A Different Bankrupt Retailer May Offer An Even Better Real Estate And Market Share Capture Opportunity

Havertys Furniture is opening new stores in space vacated by bankrupt retailers--but the bankruptcy of American Signature may offer an even more unique real estate and market share capture opportunity

Havertys Furniture is opening five new stores in 2026.

Including its first store in the state of Pennsylvania.

A new Havertys Furniture store is expected to open this Fall in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh, just across from the Ross Township Mall.

This store will be in an established retail location:

A former Joann Fabrics store that was closed last year following the craft retailer’s bankruptcy and liquidation.

Havertys Furniture frequently utilizes repurposed real estate to add new stores to its network.

In fact two additional stores set to open in 2026 are also in repurposed space—a former Big Lots store in Missouri and another Joann Fabrics suite in Tennessee.

In recent years Havertys Furniture has been even more aggressive in its pursuit of 2nd generation real estate vacated by bankrupt retailers.

Particularly during the bankruptcy of Bed Bath & Beyond in 2023.

Havertys acquired the leases to four Bed Bath stores in a bankruptcy auction—three sites in Florida and another in Mississippi.

The Company paid ~$600,000 to acquire the Bed Bath leaseholds in the auction.

But that was only the start of the expenditures necessary for Havertys to repurpose the properties as new stores.

Because it acquired Bed Bath’s operating leases, Havertys was required to pay rent immediately on all sites even before the Company opened a single store.

The rent payments for these yet-to-be renovated sites exceeded $2 MM in total cost.

Havertys also spent an additional $2.5 - $3 MM per store to refurbish and retrofit the sites to its brand standard.

These new Bed Bath-to-Havertys stores opened in 2024 and 2025.

Now that Havertys has secured prime real estate vacated by bankrupt Big Box retailers like Joann, Big Lots and Bed Bath & Beyond, where might it look next to add new stores?

The November 2025 bankruptcy—and subsequent liquidation—of American Signature Furniture could be its next big opportunity.

After filing for bankruptcy in November 2025 American Signature, the parent company of the Value City Furniture chain, closed 33 stores.

But it had hoped to find a buyer for its remaining 89 sites.

However no qualified offers were received for these stores and last month it announced that all Value City and American Signature Furniture stores would close in the coming months.

These include 79 Value City Furniture locations in 13 Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states plus 9 American Signature stores in Florida and 1 in Delaware.

Many of these stores are in states where Havertys already operates.

While others are in adjacent states like Michigan and Delaware that could likely utilize the Company’s existing distribution network.

Even better?

These sites could provide Havertys not only with good real estate but also an excellent market share capture opportunity.

After all, in the twelve months prior to bankruptcy American Signature generated ~$1 BB in annual furniture sales out of its 120+ store retail network.

Many of the American Signature and Value City stores have been known furniture retail destinations for decades.

Plus the real estate is already built out for a furniture and mattress retail use and would likely require few improvements for Havertys to backfill the sites.

In fact Value City itself had opened many of these stores only after previous furniture retailers vacated.

Like in Michigan where 10 Value City Furniture stores—in Ann Arbor, Clinton Township, Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, New Baltimore, Novi, Portage, Traverse City and Westland—opened only after their previous occupant, Art Van Furniture, vacated after its 2020 bankruptcy.

Michigan-based Gardner White Furniture is already pursuing most of these Michigan sites.

Earlier this month Gardner White acquired the Value City leases for 8 of these stores as well as another in Ohio.

But more sites—and furniture retail market share—remain available to Havertys.

In fact the American Signature/Value City real estate and market share capture opportunity is reminiscent of a previous growth “spurt” for the 129-store furniture retailer.

Roughly 25 years ago Havertys acquired and retrofitted 9 Sears HomeLife Furniture locations after that retailer exited the business.

It was a significant move for the Company at the time as the addition of the Sears HomeLife sites resulted in a 10% increase in the number of Havertys showrooms.

But the location and condition of the real estate was not the only reason that Havertys repurposed the sites.

Each HomeLife store was already a known destination for furniture sales with a history of solid sales volumes.

So the Sears HomeLife repurposes enabled Havertys to take advantage of both a unique real estate—and market share capture—opportunity.

Could the American Signature/Value City bankruptcy provide a similar opportunity for Havertys to augment its growth?

Well a 10% increase in the current Havertys store base would equate to roughly a dozen new stores.

And the Company has only been opening about 5 new stores annually in recent years.

But should Havertys deem the opportunity worthwhile enough to adjust its growth and real estate plans, it can likely choose from over 100 American Signature and Value City locations that are soon-to-be on the market!