Today we held our official groundbreaking for our new 300,000-square-foot expansion in Sioux Falls, SD. When completed, our new facility will have a footprint of around 650,000 square feet, and will serve as both a hub for our employees and product for our stores in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.
We expect the expansion to be completed in the spring of 2022.
Our founder, Bill Hinks, and leadership team were joined by elected officials including Governor Kristi Noem, Representative Dusty Johnson, Mayor Paul TenHaken, and many more community dignitaries and industry partners. Ashley Furniture founder and Chairman Ron Wanek and longtime executive Chuck Vogel also were in attendance.
"Today is a great day for a number of reasons. We love seeing investment in this state and job creation in this state. We love to see new retail options for consumers in this state," Johnson said. "That's good, but that's not the reason I'm excited today. Today's a reminder that the American dream is alive. It's a reminder that one hard working guy with one vision and one store built a world-class team and spent 40 years listening to employees and customers can pull that together in to 40 stores and 1,200 employees. Today is proof that the American dream is alive. More than any other reason, that's worth celebrating."
Noem, who noted South Dakota's current 28,000 open jobs and its rapidly rising economy (9.9% growth) are factors for excitement, said that the expansion will elevate prospects across the region.
"This investment is going to create opportunities, and it's going to create relationships with other people," she said. "When people are given the opportunity to succeed in South Dakota, they invest it back in their communities."
Wanek noted that Ashley's relationship with Furniture Mart USA has been an enduring one. "We've been doing business with the Hinks family for more than 42 years. We appreciate everything you've done," he said.
Dir. of Community Relations
Furniture Mart USA
