Popular tool retailer coming to Waynesville
The vacancy on Waynesville’s Russ Avenue left by big-box retailer Kmart in late 2019 is about to be filled with almost 18,000 square feet of tools and equipment by Calabasas, California-based Harbor Freight Tools.
According to a memorandum signed last November in Orange County, California, the privately held retailer will lease the former Kmart for a period of 10 years, with two separate options for an additional five years each.
The lease also stipulates that the landlord, PCF-Waynesville LLC, won’t allow other tool retailers to set up in the shopping center, and that other tenants can only sell tools if they amount to the lesser of 500 square feet or 10 percent of the tenant’s floor space.
Founded in 1977 in Los Angeles, Harbor Freight Tools now employs more than 20,000 people across 1,200 locations in 48 states.
Currently, the closest Harbor Freight location to Waynesville is on Hendersonville Road in Asheville, but a new location opened in Franklin this past July. According to the Macon County News, that store created between 25 and 30 new jobs.
The chain’s website, harborfreight.com, has a list of existing and “coming soon” locations, but Waynesville isn’t yet listed. No other information about possible opening is available at this time.
