West Elm, Simply Amish stores on the move along north-side corridor

Signage for West Elm has been removed at the Fashion Mall at Keystone. (IBJ photo/Dave Lindquist)

Home furnishings retailers West Elm and Simply Amish recently exited longtime north-side Indianapolis locations with plans for new stores along the 86th/82nd Street corridor.

West Elm, a subsidiary of San Francisco-based Williams-Sonoma Inc. that carries contemporary furniture and housewares, closed its only Indiana store earlier this month at the Fashion Mall at Keystone.

A new West Elm store is scheduled to open April 26 at the Nora Plaza retail center, 1340 E. 86th St., a company spokesperson said. The 12,885-square-foot store will occupy the former sites of Goodman’s Shoes and Lakeshore Learning educational supply store.

Goodman’s moved to the Nora Corners retail center, 1530 E. 86th St., last year after Kite Realty Group Trust declined to renew the shoe store’s lease at Nora Plaza. Lakeshore Learning moved to a different storefront within Nora Plaza.

Simply Amish, a company founded in central Illinois in 1979, closed its Castleton store near the intersection of 86th Street and Allisonville Road on Jan. 7. The building at 5612 Castleton Corner Lane was occupied by a bookstore in the bygone Borders chain before Simply Amish opened there in 2008.

The new Simply Amish location is already open at a space previously occupied by flooring company Kermans Inc., 4505 E. 82nd St. An official grand opening is scheduled Feb. 10 for the Simply Amish store in the Castle Key Shoppes retail center.

Simply Amish offers custom-made, solid-wood and upholstered furniture sourced from domestic manufacturers and other home furnishings.

West Elm, which carries contem made its Indiana debut with the Fashion Mall store in 2012. Four years later, the company announced plans to open a boutique hotel as part of the Bottleworks development on Massachusetts Avenue, but West Elm exited the project before its completion.

Indianapolis-based Kite acquired most of the 163,500-square-foot Nora Plaza shopping center for $29 million in 2022.

The West Elm store will open directly north of a Whole Foods grocery store.