UK retailer Wren Kitchens plans 2 more stores on Long Island

U.K.-based retailer Wren Kitchens has set its sights on adding two more large showrooms on Long Island, after entering the U.S. market in 2020.

The chain is planning to open stores in Commack and Selden, real estate representatives said. Its first Long Island store, a 19,500-square-foot showroom in Levittown, opened in October.

"[The store in] Levittown opened, and it’s been performing well. And it seems like the Long Island consumer has been enjoying the product," said Adam Weinblatt, managing director at Newmark, the Manhattan-based real estate firm that is representing Wren Kitchens in the United States.

Wren could not be reached for comment.

The retailer has signed a lease to open a 20,000-square-foot showroom at 6136 Jericho Tpke. in a shopping center in Commack, said Stu Fagen, executive vice president at Sabre Real Estate Advisors, the Garden City company that represents the landlord.

The space had been occupied by New York Sports Clubs, which closed after the fitness chain filed for bankruptcy in September 2020, he said.

The shopping center’s landlord, Heatherwood Towers Realty, soon will submit plans to the town of Huntington for renovation work in the store, which should open in about 10 months, Fagen said.

In Selden, Wren has signed a lease to open a 30,656-square-foot showroom at 15-109 Middle Country Rd. in College Plaza.

The store is expected to open in the second quarter of this year, Weinblatt said.

The space, which is under renovation, had been occupied by discount clothing and shoe retailer Bob’s Stores, which relocated to another space in the shopping center, said Maria Pace, a spokeswoman for Brixmor Property Group, the Manhattan-based company that owns the shopping center.

Founded in 2009, Wren Kitchens designs, manufactures and delivers kitchens. The company has more than 100 showrooms. Customers can order complete kitchens, including cabinets, countertops, storage options, appliances and sinks.

Wren Kitchens is the top kitchen retailer in the U.K., based on sales.

The company entered the U.S. market in November 2020, when it opened a 31,456-square-foot store — the largest kitchen showroom in the nation — in Milford, Connecticut.

Wren now has three U.S. stores — two in Connecticut and one in Levittown — and has leases signed for four more — in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Commack and Selden, Weinblatt said.

In 2021, Wren opened a 252,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Northeastern Pennsylvania, in Luzerne County, that became its U.S. headquarters.

Wren has been able to grow quickly partly because it communicates clearly to customers about pricing and quality, said Emily Stella, a retail analyst at GlobalData, a London-based market research firm.

"Products are priced competitively because the retailer manufactures its own products. Customers can also design their kitchens using virtual reality, which is attractive for a big-ticket purchase," Stella said.

Wren is owned by British billionaire Malcolm Healey, who has a good understanding of the U.S. kitchen market because he founded kitchen maker Mills Pride in Ohio in the 1980s, she said. He sold the company in 1999.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.