As Ayanna Toomer prepares a chai tea latte at the Starbucks on Sidney Marcus Boulevard, she looks across a parking lot flanked by restaurants and a Best Buy, and toward a massive, gray stone building with yellow accents.
The building, formerly the site of a Home Depot, is bustling with construction crews, but bears no name on its facade.
"There was talk it was going to be a Sam's [Club], a Costco and then once everybody saw the yellow -- ‘Eureka! Ikea!'" she said. "But we were all wrong."
Instead, the 178,000-square-foot building, which has sat vacant for several years, is transforming into one of Atlanta's biggest furniture centers. But it's not just the significance of the store size, or that it's revamping a Buckhead eyesore, that is grabbing people's attention.
It's the name: The Dump.
But not "dump" in the sanitation collection, secondhand or messy room sense. Rather, this "dump" offers mid-to-high-end furniture at deep discounts.
"The name ‘The Dump' is completely tongue-in-cheek. It’s a hybrid of us dumping the cost and overhead and taking product that others need to dump," said Ned Scherer, chief executive officer of The Dump, a division of Haynes Furniture in Virginia Beach, Va. “If you call yourself The Dump and people walk in and it really is a dump, you won’t be in business for long.”
A stroll through the space, which opens Friday, reveals gads of sofas, beds, entertainment centers, dining sets and rugs, with brand names such as Lane and Broyhill sprinkled throughout. Prices range from the affordable, with some sofas selling for the low hundreds, while shoppers will also see big-ticket items such as an Old Hickory Tannery leather sectional sofa with a $11,999 price tag.
While Toomer wondered if The Dump sells secondhand or refurbished items, Scherer explained that they offer items purchased from showroom close-outs, canceled custom orders and factory overstocks.
The store, which also has locations in Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas and Phoenix among others, will be open from Friday through Sunday only to keep overhead low.
Edward Butler, formerly of Richmond, Va., grew up knowing this quirky-named brand.
"People were like ‘The Dump?' Is it junk?'" the 24-year-old recalled of his family's curiosity.
Now he's one of roughly 200 Atlantans to be hired at the big box-styled furniture center.
"The name sounds crazy, but it works for them."
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