Home fashions retailer HomeGoods plans to open its next Central Florida store in a Colonial Avenue shopping plaza.
A poster in the window at the former site of Big Lots in Colonial Plaza — 2544 E. Colonial Drive — states that a HomeGoods store is coming soon. Big Lots, a discount retailer, filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2024 and closed hundreds of stores nationwide.
It’s unclear when the store will open. As of Saturday there was nothing inside the future HomeGoods location. A search on the City of Orlando’s Permit and Planning Project Lookup website brings up a permit for the address listing a change of tenant/tenant improvement for HomeGoods.
Emma Lapena, a HomeGoods spokesperson, said by email, “We anticipate that the new HomeGoods story in Orlando, FL will open in the future,” but she did not provide additional details.
A listing of upcoming grand openings on the chain’s website did not include any information about the Colonial Plaza location.
HomeGoods’ website describes the chain as an off-price retailer that offers an ever-changing selection of kitchen and gourmet cookware, accent furniture, lighting, rugs, decorative accessories and pillows, wall art, bedding and bath, storage, pet items and seasonal decor.
The chain’s website lists two existing Orlando stores along with nine other Central Florida locations: Altamonte Springs, Clermont, Davenport, Doctor Phillips, Kissimmee, Lake Mary, Winter Garden, Winter Park and Winter Springs. There are 82 locations in Florida — second only to California’s 110 — and 961 in the continental United States.
Colonial Plaza is owned by New York-based Kimco Realty. Its website lists 11 other Central Florida properties, including Sodo Shopping Center — south of downtown Orlando — and Millenia Plaza — adjacent to The Mall at Millenia. Attempts by phone and email to reach the leasing agent, Spencer Phelps, were not successful.
A sign in the window of the former Big Lots location in Colonial Plaza, 2728 E. Colonial Dr. in Orlando, on Saturday announces the site as the future location of a HomeGoods store. The retailer sells furniture, linens, cooking products, art and other home accessories. (Brian Bell/Orlando Sentinel)
Colonial Plaza is one of the city’s oldest open-air shopping centers and has nearly 500,000 square feet of leasable space. A map on the Kimco website lists the former Big Lots space as having 29,658 square feet and labels HomeGoods as its tenant. The anchor tenants include Sprouts, Ross, Marshalls, Hobby Lobby, Ulta and Total Wine, and the addition of HomeGoods leaves it with a handful of vacancies — all under 5,000 square feet.
HomeGoods is part of the TJX family of companies, which includes its “sister” store Homesense, a chain focused on larger-sized furniture, rugs, lighting and art. Other companies under the TJX umbrella are TJ Maxx, TK Maxx (in Europe), Marshalls, Sierra and Winners (in Canada). According to the corporate website, TJX is a Fortune 100 company and one of the leading off-price apparel and home fashions retailer with more than 5,000 stores in nine countries.
Last year, EōS Fitness signed a new long-term retail lease for a 42,780-square-foot gym in Colonial Plaza. The Arizona-based fitness company will take over the former Conn’s HomePlus site that was also previously occupied by Floor & Decor. The fitness center is set to open in 2027.
Brian Bell can be reached at bbell@orlandosentinel.com. Have a tip about Central Florida development? Email Newsroom@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.