Outdoor clothing and gear retail chain Sierra has committed to opening a store in the DeVargas Center, possibly in the fall.
Sierra, part of TJX Companies, signed a lease in fall 2021, and demolition in the former Hastings Entertainment space at the mall started in January in preparation for the opening, said Katy Fitzgerald, senior project manager for Fidelis Realty Partners, which owns the shopping center.
“It’s your REI quality, but with prices REI can’t compete with,” Fitzgerald said. “You get a cross-section of brands [similar to REI] but at costs much more affordable. There’s a lot of people who want to dip their toes into the outdoors but don’t want to do it for $500. Sierra is a good gateway into the outdoors.”
Sierra is in the same corporate family as HomeGoods, which opened at the DeVargas Center in March 2021, as well as TJ Maxx and Marshalls.
Previously, Sierra had a long small-town Western past as Sierra Trading Post, founded in 1986 as a catalog company. It entered the corporate fold with a shortened name in 2012.
As recently as 2014, the company had only four stores: in Sparks, Nev.; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Cody, Wyo.; and Meridian, Idaho. Since the TJX acquisition, however, Sierra has expanded to 58 stores in 23 states. Santa Fe would be the company’s southernmost store. Neighboring Colorado has eight Sierra stores.
Fitzgerald said she has been familiar with Sierra back to its trading post days, when it offered broad selections of popular and less common brands of outdoor clothing, shoes and accessories, along with camping, hunting and fishing equipment.
“They can bring an enormous cross-section of products to us,” Fitzgerald said.
Sierra fills the 16,320-square-foot vacancy at DeVargas left by Hastings Entertainment when that chain shut down in 2016. Hastings had occupied the space since 1996.
Fitzgerald said she has been in discussions with TJX about bringing Sierra to Santa Fe since before HomeGoods was announced in October 2018.
“I cannot think of a better national tenant for us,” Fitzgerald said.
All anchor spaces at DeVargas are now filled by Office Depot, Sprouts Farmers Market, CVS, Ross Dress for Less and HomeGoods. After two more lease announcements in about a month, DeVargas will almost be fully occupied, with only 300 square feet vacant, Fitzgerald said.