Kirkland's Decor Opening Soon Near the Mall

Kirkland's, a home decor/gift store, is filling a 12,000-square-foot strip mall site that's already home to , The Room Place and other home furnishing stores.

The Tennessee-based chain is sinking $50,000 into remodeling the 2856 Plainfield Road location that used to be home to the Factory Card & Party Outlet store and should be opening in a few weeks, according to Dave Mackley, director of building services for the city of Joliet.

Not much work had to be done to the space other than hanging drywall to provide more interior wall space and wiring support columns for electricity so they can by used to display lamps, Mackley said. The largest expense was adding two disabled-accessible rest rooms, which the card/party store did not offer, he said.

Signs hung from the outside of the building announce the store is now hiring employees, typically one of the final stages before opening.

According to the company's Web site, www.kirklands.com, the company had 309 stores as of January in 30 states. This will be the seventh in Illinois, the others being Naperville, Geneva, Orland Park, Woodridge, Hoffman Estates, Algonquin and Carbondale.

The site also says the store sells such items as framed art, mirrors, wall decor, candles, lamps, decorative accessories, accent furniture, textiles, garden-related accessories, artificial floral products and holiday decor items.