Here's an announcement that made me stop for a second.
Wayfair is opening an approximately 86,000-square-foot store in Cherry Hill.
Yes, that Wayfair.
The company best known for selling furniture and home décor online plans to open the large-format store at Market Place at Garden State Park on Route 70 in late 2028. It will be Wayfair's second planned New Jersey location and the company's 11th physical store in its expanding retail portfolio.
Why would a giant online retailer suddenly want shoppers walking through a store?
Because buying for your home is different from ordering toothpaste online.
People want to sit on a sofa.
See the true color of a fabric.
Feel a table.
Compare finishes.
Visualize how something will look in their house.
Wayfair says the Cherry Hill store will include its product assortment, free design services and assistance with home projects. Many items will also be available to purchase and take home.
But there's another real estate story hiding here.
Wayfair chose Garden State Park.
For longtime Cherry Hill residents, that name has an entirely different meaning than it did decades ago.
What was once Garden State Park Racetrack has been transformed into a major mixed-use area combining shopping, restaurants and residential development. Today, Market Place and Towne Place total more than 1.2 million square feet of retail and restaurant space, with residential apartments also located within the larger redevelopment.
Now a national home retailer is betting on that location too.
Why?
Location, access and demographics.
Route 70 puts the property near major Cherry Hill neighborhoods, I-295 and Philadelphia-area shoppers.
To me, that's another reminder that successful commercial real estate follows people.
Retailers study where consumers live, how they travel, what they earn and where they already shop.
Wayfair choosing Cherry Hill for such a large investment doesn't mean everyone's home suddenly becomes worth more.
But it does tell us something.
A major national retailer believes South Jersey and the greater Philadelphia market are worth investing in.
And considering the store will sell products specifically for the home, I have a feeling plenty of South Jersey homeowners will be checking it out when those doors finally open.
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