HomeGoods, DSW may open early next year in Visalia

Work is underway to transform an empty storefront on Visalia’s South Mooney Boulevard into a newHomeGoods store.

But if you’re hoping to be able do some of your holiday shopping at the discount home store later this year, you’re out of luck, as the store may not open at the Gateway Plaza shopping center until February or March.

And another big store due to open there, DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse will not open until well after the holidays.

In fact, DSW is slated to open on March 10, said developer David Paynter, whose Tustin-based company, Paynter Realty & Investments, owns Gateway Plaza, southwest of Mooney and West Caldwell Avenue.

The new shoe store will fill the space now occupied by Rent-A-Center, which will relocates across the street to the Sequoia Plaza shopping center early next month.

A HomeGoods store will occupy 20,000-square-feet of the the building that used to house Visalia’s Staples store, which vacated the space in mid 2013 and relocated a couple of businesses down in the same shopping center.

Workers have gutted that space and renovations are expected continue until early next year, Paynter said.

As for a precise opening date for the store, that isn’t clear. Contacted on Friday, Robyn Arvedon, an assistant vice president of marketing for HomeGoods, wrote in an email to the Times-Delta, “Although we appreciate the inquiry, HomeGoods has not announced a new store for Visalia.”

This despite the fact that on Monday the Visalia Planning Commis