New in Town – Wallaroo’s Coming to Salt Lake City

So, it’s official! There’s a new Wallaroo in town… actually, there’s three!! Get ready Utah, we’re coming! We’ve announced that we’ll be coming to the Salt Lake City area, but we are actually opening up THREE NEW STORES in Utah! We could not be more excited about this opportunity to expand. Our dream of Wallaroo’s being a nationwide company is one state closer!

Now that all that’s out in the open, we wanted to take you all through the process of what it takes to open a new store. A lot of time and energy goes into this process. Scouting out locations, hiring staff members, targeting marketing towards the new area, and so much more. It’s no easy feat, but it’s one that we happily take on and make it happen!

The first step in opening a new store is selecting a location. For now, Wallaroo’s is a Northwest Furniture brand with locations in Washington, Idaho, Montana. Expanding into Utah was a logical next choice for many reasons, the biggest being it’s an easy stop to add to our shipping route. Currently, our products all arrive in Spokane and are then split into different trucks going to CDA, Boise, and Missoula. From Boise, dropping down into Utah and then circling back around up to Spokane was a smart move for ease of shipment transportation.

We also select certain locations is because product demand. A growing location like Salt Lake City means a lot of people will need furniture! We also think it’s a pretty cool place. Bailee, Wallaroo’s co-owner, grew up in Utah and has wanted to bring Wallaroo’s there for years. Bailee believes that in the future, Utah could sustain 6-8 Wallaroo’s stores, so at three stores, we’re just getting started! The rate at which Utah is growing made it a simple decision; we needed to see what Utah’s all about!

Hiring staff members in our new locations is another crucial part of opening a successful store. Our sales staff, delivery teams, and store managers are top-notch at each location. Keeping that dedicated staffing mindset in every new store is super important. We love getting to promote from within the company, so each of our managers are hired from our existing staff. We have an awesome hiring team that meets, interviews, and brings new folks onto the team, making sure it’s a good fit for everybody. On top of that, Nathan and Bailee temporarily move to each new location for the first few months to ensure everything runs smoothly. Check out our Walla-crew blog about the various teams at Wallaroo’s to get a better idea of what each of our job responsibilities include, and what it’s like working for the world’s best furniture store!

Here’s where the marketing team comes in to target our markets and expand our audience. (If you’re reading this, our efforts are paying off 😉). Having an in-house marketing team is fairly unique for a furniture company, but we believe cultivating lasting relationships in all areas of business is beneficial for everyone. We’ve recently made some substantial changes to our marketing tactics. One thing we’re doing now is focusing on the company as a whole, and pushing marketing all over the Western US. Now that we’re expanding into Utah we are working on building those relationships and friendships with Utah folks, and spreading awareness of our brand. We’re all about creating connections, and we love getting to partner with other individuals and brands to bring value to our audiences! Getting into influencer marketing is something we’ve been working on, and finding those people that love our products, and want to work with us has been a really fun experience all around. (Real Housewives of Salt Lake, if you’re reading this, hit us up…)

Of course, this is a paired-down version of what actually goes into opening a store. There’s a lot of prepping and planning that goes into making it all happen. If we got into all the nitty-gritty details you might be bored to death! Signing leases, interview scheduling, and all that is the less glamorous side of opening new stores. Opening another store has been in the works for the past 6 months. After one possibility fell through unexpectedly, we went full steam ahead with Utah. We are SO proud of the incredible growth we’re seeing, and the vast potential ahead! We can’t wait to see you, Utah!