Kohl’s is reportedly in talks with At Home, which began shopping for a buyer three months ago. According to Reuters, Kohl’s would use the acquisition to beef up its home department. HTT’s exclusive Retailing Giants ranking reported the home department accounted for 19 per cent of Kohl’s 2017 sales. Soft home accounted for 7.0 per cent of sales at $1.336 bn. Kohl’s ranked as the 4th largest seller of home textiles in the US in 2017.
“There is no certainty that an offer from Kohl’s will materialize as a result of the preliminary discussions, and At Home Group may revert to trying to sell itself to a buyout firm,” Reuters reported based on confidential sources.
In its most recent fiscal year, At Home broke the billion-dollar mark, generating $1.17 bn in sales. Net income jumped 53.0 per cent to $49.0 mn. HTT’s Retailing Giants report ranked At Home as the 32nd largest retailer of home textiles in the US, with 2017 soft home sales of $191 mn.
The average At Home store runs to 120,000 sq. ft. It’s unclear what Kohl’s – which has been working to reduce the size of its physical stores, in some cases by leasing space to traffic-generating non-competitors – would do with At Home’s massive boxes.
