Wayfair to Open 150 KSF Atlanta Store

Boston-based Wayfair Inc. has signed a 150,000-square-foot lease at The District at Howell Mill, a 306,109-square-foot shopping center in Atlanta. Retail Planning Corp. arranged the transaction.

The retailer will occupy a former Walmart location, Atlanta Business Chronicle reported. The future store is expected to begin serving customers starting in 2026.

It will be Wayfair’s second large-format physical store nationwide. The firm’s first such location is a 150,000-square-foot, two-story property that opened in May 2024 in Chicago’s suburb of Wilmette, Ill.

Retail Planning Executive Vice President Fraser Gough and Vice President of Leasing Benton Green brokered the leasing deal.

The District at Howell Mill, up close

The District at Howell Mill is under the ownership of LaSalle Investment Management’s JLL Income Property Trust in conjunction with Selig Enterprises. In 2007, LaSalle acquired a roughly 88 percent stake in the retail center from Selig for $78 million, according to CommercialEdge information.

The retail center is at 1801 Howell Mill Road NW alongside Interstate 75, in the Upper Westside neighborhood. Downtown Atlanta is less that 6 miles south.

Completed in 2006 on a 12-acre site, the shopping center serves a population of 147,610 individuals within a 3-mile radius, with average household incomes of $156,957, according to Retail Planning data from 2024.

The Wayfair store will anchor the property alongside HomeGoods and T.J. Maxx. The tenant roster also features Ulta Beauty, PetSmart, Verizon and Starbucks, among others.

Atlanta’s retail market witnessed a 3.7 percent vacancy rate at the end of 2024, remaining 50 basis points below the 5-year average, according to a Colliers report. Meanwhile, the metro’s construction pipeline totaled only 544,000 square feet, marking the slowest supply growth on record.