Williams Sonoma ‘adds a little panache’ to Westbrook Outlet

High end kitchen goods retailer Williams Sonoma is expanding its presence in the Westbrook Outlets, albeit on a temporary basis.

Williams Sonoma already has a permanent store in the retail center. But the California-based retailer has now opened a “pop-up” store that will sell furniture and home furnishings.

Pop-up stores open in vacant retail space and usually only for a brief period of time, sometimes selling seasonal items like Halloween costumes or Christmas items. A spokeswoman for the outlet center, Sue Helondovitch, said the 12,000-square-foot Williams Sonoma Home Pop Up Outlet opened a few weeks ago and “will be open for longer than this type of store is typically open.”

“This is a concept that Williams Sonoma Home is trying at some other locations where its traditional (kitchen goods) stores already have a permanent presence,” Helondovitch said, citing an outlet center in Vero Beach, Florida, as another example of where the retailer’s pop-up store concept is being tried.

Williams Sonoma got into the home furnishings business in 2004, Williams Sonoma Home has nearly four dozen permanent stores in the United States and Canada,

Williams Sonoma Home doesn’t currently have any permanent stores in Connecticut, but has three in Massachusetts.

David Cadden, a professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University’s School of Business, said the use of a popup store could be an experiment by Williams Sonmoma Home to determine whether the Connecticut retail market can support a permanent location.

The outlet center, which is located off Interstate 95, was sold in May for $40 million. North Carolina-based Tanger Outlets sold the retail center to a company that’s identified in public records as Hoche Partners Real Estate.

Cadden said the new owners probably figure that adding Williams Sonoma Home, even on a temporary basis, “adds a little panache” to the retail center.

The Westbrook Outlets is also adding the high fashion, low price clothing retailer H&M to its collection of stores. The new H&M location, which will be the 10th Connecticut store for the Swedish retailer, is scheduled to open next week.