ECO STORE TREEHOUSE UPROOTING FROM AUSTIN
Eco-friendly home improvement chain closing its only Austin store.
TreeHouse, which operates eco-friendly home improvement stores and got its start in Austin in 2011, is closing up shop here and shifting its base of operations to the Dallas area as it seeks to expand.
TreeHouse chief executive Gary Kusin said the move was prompted by the company’s view that Austin couldn’t support multiple stores.
TreeHouse opened a store in Dallas last summer, followed by a store in Plano in January.
“We are now looking at markets based on their potential to have many TreeHouse locations,” Kusin said Friday in response to written questions from the American-Statesman. “Austin did not fit that potential.”
Jason Ballard, who founded TreeHouse and formerly served as CEO, left the company last month. He has been working on a startup called ICON3D, which is developing 3D printing and robotics technology for the homebuilding industry.
Kusin, named TreeHouse CEO in December, is a long-time entrepreneur who co-founded Babbage’s, which now is called GameStop, and once served as president of FedEx Kinko’s. He also has been an investor and board member of TreeHouse.
TreeHouse’s Austin location, in the Westgate Shopping Center at 4477 S. Lamar Blvd, has been
likened to a cross between a Home Depot and an Apple Store. It sells items such as solar power systems, nontoxic paints and various “smart-home” technologies, including thermostats, doorbells and security systems.
A TreeHouse executive told the American-Statesman in 2015 that the company had about 25 employees in Austin, although Kursin didn’t disclose the number Friday.
However, he said “a majority of the Austin employees were offered the opportunity to interview for positions in North Texas,” and the process is ongoing.
The company raised $16 million from investors in 2015 for a expansion. The 2015 investment round was led by Garrett Boone, co-founder of The Container Store, although other investors weren’t disclosed.
TreeHouse has raised additional funds since then, including a $7.5 million equity investment last month, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and a $7.6 million equity investment in 2017.
Kusin said all of the money is “being used to validate our concept and guide future growth,” but he didn’t provide details.
The company first announced its intention to close its store here and move out of Austin on its website, saying in a May 14 post that the Austin store would “complete all active installation projects and continue retail sales for the next 90 days.”
It described the Austin store, its first, as “invaluable for operational learnings” but “not in an ideal location for long term success.”
Kusin told the Statesman Ballard is “an inveterate entrepreneur” who now has turned his attention to a new passion.
“We wish him the best and will forever be grateful for his vision that started” TreeHouse, Kusin said.