West Elm leaves Short Pump

The West Elm furniture store at Short Pump Town Center will close January 18.

The closure was confirmed by a spokesperson for Williams-Sonoma, the publicly-traded retailer that owns West Elm. No specific reason was given for closing the store.

Mall management also offered no explanation as to why the store was closing.

Williams-Sonoma turned a profit of last quarter of $7.33 million, primarily due to cutting expenses, closing stores, and improving margins, according to the company’s quarterly conference call. This time last year the company posted a loss of $11 million.

Over the last year the company has increased closings of underperforming stores. Overall same store sales are up 1.7 percent. You can read more about their recent financial report here.

Stay tuned next week when BizSense will has a story on a new furniture store coming to the region.

Al Harris covers commercial real estate for BizSense. Please send news tips to Al@richmondbizsense.com.