Wayfair has officially gone big in Atlanta. The online home giant opened the doors Tuesday to a sprawling 150,000-square-foot showroom at The District at Howell Mill, filling the former Walmart box with just about everything you could use to furnish a house or apartment. Inside, shoppers will find furniture, home décor, appliances, a sleep center and an all-day café under one very large roof.
The store is laid out into 18 departments, with plenty of smaller items ready for immediate pickup. Bigger pieces that cannot squeeze into a car will be shipped out from a nearby fulfillment hub, making this one of Wayfair’s largest brick-and-mortar bets in the Southeast.
Opening day and grand plans
According to Wayfair, the Howell Mill location opened Tuesday at 10 a.m. The retailer is planning a grand-opening weekend from April 17 to 19, when the first 100 customers through the doors each day will get $50 gift cards.
The company lists store hours as 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. The new store is located at 1801 Howell Mill Rd NW in Atlanta.
What you'll find inside
Inside the 150,000-square-foot space, Wayfair has carved out roughly 18 departments, including living room, bedroom, bathroom, office, a dedicated sleep center and home-improvement sections, plus displays for wall art, rugs, lighting and outdoor furniture, as reported by Axios. The store also features The Porch café and some local flavor, like University of Georgia outdoor items.
Liza Lefkowski told Axios the location "will feature just about anything a person can fit into a vehicle." For the rest - think sofas and other large furniture - customers can order in-store and have items fulfilled from a Wayfair warehouse in Henry County, Axios notes.
Filling a vacant anchor on Howell Mill
The new Wayfair takes over from a Walmart supercenter that permanently closed after a damaging fire in 2022, restoring a major anchor to The District at Howell Mill and the surrounding Upper Westside retail strip, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The AJC also notes the store sits roughly 40 miles from Wayfair’s fulfillment hub in McDonough, a setup the company says will speed delivery for larger items that shoppers cannot take home the same day.
Where this fits in Wayfair's experiment
Atlanta is Wayfair’s second large-format experiment after its Wilmette, Illinois debut in 2024. The company has flagged additional test locations, including Yonkers, Denver and a smaller-format pilot in Columbus, as it works out how to balance its massive online presence with physical retail, according to industry outlet Furniture Today.
The concept mixes showroom-style merchandising, in-store services such as design help and cafés, and the back-end muscle of nearby fulfillment centers to keep large inventory moving.
Hoodline context
first reported Wayfair’s plans for the Howell Mill lease last year, tracking the retailer’s move into the former Walmart box and flagging its proximity to the McDonough distribution center. This update adds the official opening date, store hours and interior details now that the location is welcoming customers.
How to visit
Wayfair says the grand-opening weekend will run April 17 to 19 with giveaways and family-friendly programming, and that the first 100 customers each day will be eligible for $50 gift cards, per Wayfair. The store is open now at 1801 Howell Mill Rd NW, and shoppers are encouraged to check in-store or on Wayfair’s site for details on pickup and delivery timing for larger items.
