MOUNT VERNON — A national clothing and home decor retailer is set to open a new location in Mount Vernon this week.
Factory Connection, an Alabama-based company with nearly 300 stores in 17 states across the Midwest and South, will open a new location at 1548 Coshocton Ave. on Friday, according to a sign posted on the door.
The store will sit between Big Lots and Sally Beauty Supply in the Knox Village Square shopping center, located on Mount Vernon’s east end. It will occupy the space left vacant by Gordmans in the summer of 2020.
The new store will be titled “Fashion & Home by FC (Factory Connection).” It represents the merger of two Factory Connection brands – “Fashion by FC” and “Home by FC” – and will be the first of its kind nationwide, according to the company’s website.
And as such, the store will sell a mix of clothing and home decor.
Fashion by FC’s website says it buys from the industry’s “leading fashion manufacturers,” which allows the company “to offer name brand and specialty store fashions at prices that are well below retail.”
Home by FC’s website says it “(strives) to provide beautiful decor to transform your house into your dream home.” The company says its items are “small enough for you to take home today without need to arrange delivery.”
Fashion & Home by FC in Mount Vernon will be open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The store will hold its grand opening at 10 a.m. Friday.
Factory Connection currently has six stores in Ohio, according to its website. The others are located in Bellefontaine, Greenville, Hillsboro, Wheelersburg, Gallipolis and Calcutta.
Gordmans – another national, off-priced department store chain – lasted just one year in Knox Village Square before shutting its doors. Its parent company, Texas-based Stage Stores, filed for bankruptcy in May 2020, citing pre-existing market challenges that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company closed all 720 of its stores by September.
Peebles – another Stage Store brand with a similar product line – occupied the space before Gordmans. The company made the switch in June 2019 during a period of internal restructuring.
Factory Connection will bring business back to 1548 Coshocton Ave. for the first time in two years. It will be the second business to join Knox Village Square this year, with local medical equipment retailer K&B Mobility relocating to 1502 Coshocton Ave. in February (it was previously located at 105 Coshocton Ave., near the Park Street intersection).
And there’s more coming, according to the shopping center’s website. Regency Properties, the commercial real estate company that owns Knox Village Square, has listed Beltone Hearing Care Center as the next tenant at 1504 Coshocton Ave.
Beltone, a national hearing aid retailer, is currently located at 812 Coshocton Ave., in the Medical Arts Plaza across from Kroger. It’s unclear when the company will open its new location (representatives from Beltone and Regency Properties were unavailable for comment Wednesday).
Knox Village Square will reach 70% occupancy when Beltone moves in, as 10 of its 14 storefronts will be full. The shopping center will contain Big Lots, Factory Connection, Sally Beauty Supply, Hibbett Sports, Burkes Outlet, Aaron’s, Hunan Garden, Holiday Hair, Beltone and K&B Mobility.
Rural King, located at 1500 Coshocton Ave., used to be a part of the shopping center, but split off in 2020 when the company bought its corner of the property.
