Wayfair opens brick-and-mortar Birch Lane stores in Tampa Bay area
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 20, 2024

E-commerce giant Wayfair Inc. has opened three of its first-ever Birch Lane physical stores in Florida — and two are in the Tampa Bay area.

Boston-based Wayfair, which sells furniture and home goods, has opened Birch Lane stores in Tampa's International Plaza and Sarasota's Mall at University Town Center. The third Florida store is in Boca Raton, in shopping and entertainment district Mizner Park.

The brick-and-mortar stores are part of a wider Wayfair strategy to expand its physical retail locations. The company also operates stores under AllModern and Joss & Main banners and has plans for large-format, Wayfair-branded stores, the Boston Business Journal reports.

Furniture and home goods is a burgeoning retail category in Florida, driven by the state's rapid influx of new residents since 2020. South Florida-based City Furniture Inc. has bet hundreds of millions of dollars on an expansion into the Tampa Bay region. Bassett Furniture, based in Virginia, has opened in a former Rooms To Go showroom on North Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa. (Rooms To Go relocated that showroom to a new real estate prototype less than a mile away.)

"Not only are we bringing a fresh perspective to classic furnishings and decor, but also to the customer experience," Wayfair said. "By now providing seamless options to shop in-person, online, or via our app, our customers can design their homes in whatever personalized way works best for them and their families."