The long empty former K-Mart building on the White Horse Pike in Lawnside NJ will soon be seeing new retail life, as Lomax Carpet & Tile Mart – Flooring Supercenter will be taking 45,000+ sq ft of the 102,000 sq ft building.
Branded as “Carpet & Tile Mart – Flooring Supercenters”, they will be moving into the left portion of the building. The right portion of the building is available for lease by other retail tenants (about 57,000 sq ft available).
As part of the signing of Carpet & Tile Mart, a major remodel of the building is also planned.
Lomax Carpet & Tile Mart is a 3rd generation family owned and operated business, based out of Delaware. They have 14 Flooring Superstores in the Delaware Valley, Maryland and South Carolina.
Lawnside will be their 15th location and the second South Jersey location, with Mays Landing opened in 2021. At 45-50,000 square feet, the upcoming Lawnside flooring store will be close in size to the Lawnside ShopRite. That’s a big flooring store!
I call the building “Former K-Mart” as I think that is what most readers would recognize it as. Area residents will likely call out that later on it became a Sears Essential store… before becoming a K-Mart again for a very short time, before closing.
But old-timers like myself will remember when the building was originally a Rickels Home Center, which in my research traces back to around 1969! I think in the very early days it was called “Rickels Brothers!”
Two interesting aspects of this signing which should further make area residents very happy…
First off, this is a nice reuse of an existing empty building, which is something many 42Freeway readers appreciate seeing.
Looking at the Lomax flooring company’s location page it’s clear that moving into closed retail buildings in still commercially viable areas is a key expansion model for them. Lomax has taken over spaces which previously were a SuperFresh Supermarket, K-Mart, Circuit City and at least Toys R Us stores!
The second aspect is, this clearly signifies the return of retail to the K-Mart building which had been closed for over 10 years… a building which some feared would attract non-retail uses.
In May of 2022 I had written that the building was sold. At that time I wasn’t 100% certain of the future planned use for the space, but for that article I did track down that the new owner specialized in storage facilities.
That being said the property is zoned B-B Business District, which according to Lawnside ordinance directly prohibits Self-Storage warehouses. It seems Lawnside elected officials prefer more traditional retail uses for the space, such as the Carpet and Tile Mart!
At this time I don’t have timing on when Lomax carpet and tile mart is expected to open.
If you are interested in becoming a tenant in the Lawnside building, the commercial lease listing and brochure is available on loopnet.com, or you can call Carlton Smith of Prime Sites Realty at 215-896-4411.
A big thanks to an unnamed 42Freeway reader who found the marketing listing online and brought it to my attention. I try to say this as much as possible, but thank you guys for sending me leads on new businesses… even your questions, if I don’t know the answer… turn into possible future 42Freeway stories!
Lomax Carpet & Tile Mart
Lomax Carpet & Tile Mart is a large regional retailer of all varieties of flooring products including rugs, carpet, tile, laminates, vinyl, hardware and more.
According to their website…
They are a third generation family owned and operated business, based out of Newcastle Delaware.
The company started in 1967 by company founder Sam Longwill who opened the chain’s first store as Air Base Carpet Mart in a Quonset Hut adjacent to the Air National Guard base in Newcastle Delaware.
Today they have grown into 14 locations with over 300 employees, and remain the leading independent floor covering store chain in the nation. They offer the same value selection and customer service that they had on opening day nearly 50 years ago.
Lomax says they buy direct from mills and manufacturers for all of their flooring categories which eliminates middle men and additional markups that are normally associated with flooring franchise stores or big box home center flooring departments.
Links and Locations
Lomax Carpet & Tile Mart – Coming Soon
200 N White Horse Pike
Lawnside, NJ 08045
Loopnet Commercial Real Estate Listing