Salt Lake City-based RC Willey Home Furnishings is looking for a spot in Vacaville

Article Last Updated: Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 - 11:31:27 pm PDT

Vacaville may get new furniture store

By Christine Cubé

VACAVILLE - On the heels of plans by home furnishings giant Ashley Furniture to open a store in Fairfield, Vacaville is in talks with its own prospective furniture retailer.

Salt Lake City-based RC Willey Home Furnishings is looking for a spot in Vacaville, real estate sources said. It would be RC Willey's second location in California. Its first store is opening in Rocklin.

Clark Yospe, vice president of marketing for the furniture company, wouldn't confirm what the company's plans are with regard to locating in Vacaville.

"That may be the case, but I'm not the person to release the information," Yospe said. "I'm pretty sure we're going to have more than one store in the Sacramento area. Where that will be, we don't know."

RC Willey Home Furnishings president Jeff Child declined to comment. Company executives would be more likely to talk about a deal or land negotiations "as soon as we get closer to something," Yospe said.

RC Willey Home Furnishings is among several businesses looking for space in the city, City Council Vice Mayor Pauline Clancy confirmed.

"I would love to see something like that locate in Vacaville because there's a great need," Clancy said. "Furniture options now are small local businesses that are doing very well. But some of the things that new homeowners need are not available in Vacaville - a wider choice, for instance."

Many of the businesses shopping for a location are skipping over Fairfield "because we are business friendly," she added.

"We work very closely with people who want to locate in our city and at times we expedite the process for them," she said. "Vacaville is getting to a point where we can pick and choose who we want. We want quality."

Last month, Fairfield officials announced plans for a massive, 46,000-square-foot Ashley Furniture store to be built next to the Saturn dealership on Interstate 80.

Real estate brokerage Colliers International closed on the deal with Retail Endeavors Group, which bought 5.41 acres adjacent to the Auto Mall. The new furniture store will be Ashley Furniture's first store in Solano County.

RC Willey Home Furnishings has 17 locations, mostly in Utah and Nevada, according to the company's Web site.

Reach Christine Cubé at 427-6934 or ccube@dailyrepublic.net.