MOORESVILLE – The long-awaited opening of a massive furniture outlet store in the former Burlington Mill on South Main Street in Mooresville will draw a step closer on Monday, April 25, when its owners take down the chain-link fence surrounding the site.

Owner Michael Bay said Wednesday his Merinos Home Furnishings Warehouse expects its first furniture shipments around May 1 and will begin sales soon after.

He said removal of the fence, which has surrounded the site since the old Burlington plant closed in 1999, is important symbolically for the region, which more often has seen textile plants close and jobs go away in recent years.

“We’re opening a new location and creating jobs,” he said Wednesday.

The furniture warehouse expects to employ about 45 people when it’s fully open. It will be the third for Mr. Bay, who also operates similar furniture outlets in Fort Lawn, S.C., and Jefferson, Ga.

The 38-acre textile plant site was sold in December 2010 to a New York company called Concord Global Trading, which operated stores under the name Wow Home Furnishings. Mr. Bay said Wednesday the company had decided to change the name.

The owners had hoped to open last summer. Work was halted briefly in June 2010 when a fire ignited by welder’s sparks started a fire in debris in a crawl space.

Mr. Bay said the company will have a sort of rolling opening, as shipments arrive. He plans a grand opening in late summer.
“We’ll start receiving goods the first of May, and as we receive it, we’re going to price it and open the doors. Then we’re going to start receiving 10 containers a day,” he said.

It could be six weeks before the 200,000 square foot showroom is fully stocked, he said.

Mr. Bay has grand plans for making Mooresville a destination for furniture shoppers, perhaps piggy backing on the town’s racing-related tourism. He also said he’d like to invite local furniture craftspeople to come work in the store, showing off their skills and techniques.

He said the venture would bring new life to the long-dormant site. “The fence is coming down, new landscaping is coming. It will be full of life, good memories, good furniture at good prices,” Mr. Bay said.

He said Merinos would have “no salesmen, no hidden agenda, no gimmicks, and truly incredible deals. “Because we own our own building, we can afford to sell our furniture at a good price,” he said.

RELATED COVERAGE

June 24, 2010, “Fire halts work on furniture outlet in Mooresville”

Jan. 13, 2010, “Former plant in Mooresville is sold”