When the biggest furniture chain in the country opens its biggest North American store ever, it’s a big deal.

For Ashley Furniture, with more than 1,000 locations around the world and revenues estimated to be more than $10 billion, its newest location, in an emerging area of Las Vegas, represents the brand taking its game up a few notches. And despite the town’s reputation as a place for risk-taking, the store looks like a sure bet.

At 88,000 square feet—plus an attached 218,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center—the new Ashley store dwarfs the company’s typical footprint of 15,000 to 40,000 square feet. Ashley, which is privately owned by the Wanek family and does not report its financial information, owns this new store even as many of its locations are licensed to independent retailers, which often operate Ashley outlets adjacent to their own branded furniture stores.

Ashley said it picked Las Vegas for this flagship-sized store because of the city’s “flair for innovation.” It purchased the real estate in 2020, partially from a local dealer, Walker Furniture, which had earmarked it for an expansion effort that never happened.

Ashley’s new location joins four of the brand’s other stores (plus an outlet) in the Las Vegas marketplace, with the new outpost noteworthy not only for its size but also its positioning in the southwestern corner of the sprawling valley metroplex, home to more than 2.4 million people. Across the access road is a brand new full-size Ikea opening later this year, and all around them are construction sites that suggest a lot more retail is on its way.

While Ashley’s new store mostly follows the traditional furniture dealer playbook, albeit at a larger scale, it does feature a number of elements that indicate the direction the company is headed. Most prominent is its partnership with consumer electronics giant Samsung for an extensive display of video monitors and smart home devices, continuing its Connected Home Experience department that debuted in 2024. Walls of giant flat-screen TVs are positioned in front of a variety of room vignettes, connected by Bluetooth to give shoppers a full-blown demonstration of what they can have in their own homes.

There is also an oversized Sleep Shop featuring a lineup of well-known mattress brands, including Stearns & Foster, Tempur-Pedic and the brand’s own Ashley private label. Virtually every hangtag throughout the store includes pricing, product details and financing arrangements through the Ashley Advantage Credit Card, all of it controlled through RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology and able to be updated at the flick of a few keystrokes from a central location.

Also sprinkled throughout the store is extensive point-of-sale signage, from giant video screens to small stanchions proclaiming products as “Best Sellers” or “Now Trending.” The traditional order-writing area is branded “The Lounge,” including workstations with computers and yet more TV screens.

Coexisting with all of this are the trappings of a more conventional furniture store, with hundreds of products and displays: living room and mattresses primarily on the first floor; and bedroom, dining, kids and outdoor on the second floor. Vignettes are accessorized with decorative accessories, rugs and lighting.

And if these displays don’t exactly break any new ground in the world of furniture retailing, the sheer number makes a bold statement for anybody interested in shopping for their next sofa or credenza. “This location is a reflection of what Ashley stands for: style that inspires, value that delivers and a clear purpose to help people love where they live,” said Chad Spencer, CEO of Ashley Global Retail, in the announcement of the store opening. “It’s not just a store—it’s a destination where customers can explore, discover and design a home that feels truly their own.”

Despite the popular saying, one suspects that when it comes to this retail concept, what happens in Vegas won’t be staying in Vegas.

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Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories.