RC Willey leaves Riverdale, consolidating at Layton location
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- The exterior of the former RC Willey location in RIverdale at 4045 Riverdale Road, which closed in June 2022. The photo was taken Thursday, July 28, 2022.
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- This undated photo shows the RC Willey location in Layton at 2205 N. 1400 West. The Riverdale store closed in June 2022, consolidating with the new Layton store, which opened in 2020.
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- The exterior of the former RC Willey location in RIverdale at 4045 Riverdale Road, which closed in June 2022. The photo was taken Thursday, July 28, 2022.
RIVERDALE — RC Willey, a long-time retail anchor on the northern end of Riverdale Road, has left the location, the final prong in a major reorganization of stores in Utah to keep pace with changing times.
“This is the final change in how we get up to date with the look we want,” said Scott Hymas, chief executive officer of the Salt Lake City-based furniture store chain, which has outlets in Utah, Idaho, Nevada and California. The location at 4045 Riverdale Road closed its doors in June.
RC Willey’s departure represents a financial blow to the city of Riverdale. The store generated around $450,000 a year in sales tax funds for Riverdale, where retail dominates, making it the eighth-highest sales tax generator in the city, according to Mike Eggett, community development director for Riverdale.
“That’ll be a huge loss for us, a huge loss,” said Riverdale Mayor Braden Mitchell.
Businesses ebb and flow in Riverdale, though, and Eggett suspects the city will be able to survive until the vacant spot is filled. RC Willey moved to the Riverdale Road location in the mid-1990s, according to Hymas.
“The city has a level of resilience when it comes to empty spaces,” Eggett said. He recalled that one spot once remained vacant for perhaps two years, but that’s perhaps the longest it’s taken to find a tenant to fill an empty storefront.
Hymas, meantime, said the closure of the Riverdale store isn’t a reflection of RC Willey’s economic health or even of the Riverdale location’s popularity. “It’s been a great location for us,” he said, and 2021 for RC Willey “was the best year we had in the history of the company.”
Rather, the closure was part of a reorganization that dates back eight years that’s meant, in part, to put RC Willey locations closer to interstates, to make them more easily accessible, to make them destination shopping spots. In announcing the closure, company officials said the Riverdale store was “merging” with the new Layton store, built in 2020. The Syracuse RC Willey closed in 2020, also as part of efforts to focus Northern Utah operations at the larger new Layton location.
RC Willey didn’t lay off any workers as part of the changes, though some left on their own volition through retirement or for other reasons, according to Hymas.
What comes next for the 4045 Riverdale Road location is up in the air, Eggett said. Several other smaller storefronts to the southwest are also vacant, spaces that used to house Gap, Crazy 8 and The Children’s Place. “There’s no confirmation on what’s happening,” he said.
Some have speculated on social media that townhomes may be in the offing at the old RC Willey locations, but such development would require a rezone of the land, change not in the cards. “Right now it’s not happening,” Eggett said.