Texas-based Pier 1 Imports is back — but you won’t see any storefronts

After closing all its stores earlier this year, Pier 1 Imports is back — kind of.

The home furnishings retailer relaunched last week as an online-only store at Pier1.com.

Retail Ecommerce Ventures purchased the rights to Pier 1’s trademark, intellectual property, data and e-commerce assets for $31 million in July with plans to revive the company online, REV said in a news release.

The online store, which launched Oct. 29, features familiar Pier 1 products from categories including furniture, pillows, holiday and seasonal decor, rugs, lighting and bedding, as well as entirely new offerings, REV said.

New Pier 1 CEO Shayan Zadeh — perhaps best-known for co-founding dating site Zoosk — said the brand has overhauled its site to improve customers’ online shopping experience.

“We have made tremendous progress in revamping the site, with much-improved discovery, filtering and search capabilities,” he said in the release, adding that Apple and Android apps are expected in 2021.

Pier 1 filed for bankruptcy in February after 58 years in business, then liquidated and closed all of its roughly 500 brick-and-mortar stores, CNN reported.

REV hired about 15 people from Pier 1’s former buying, marketing and customer service departments to its 30-person team and moved the brand’s headquarters from Fort Worth to Dallas, the company said.

Brian Thompson, Pier 1’s former director of global sourcing, was the only veteran executive hired to the new team and will oversee the brand’s merchandising and supply chain.

“At REV, we transform beloved brands like Pier 1 into Internet-first companies positioned for robust growth,” REV co-founder Tai Lopez said in the release. “Central to our playbook is retaining the brand’s strengths. It’s why we retained veteran buyers from Pier 1 to re-engage with vendors and bring back the merchandise our customers know and love.”

REV was founded in 2019 by Alex Mehr and Lopez and seeks to revive struggling business by transitioning them to ecommerce. It has acquired brands including Linens ‘n Things and Dressbarn, the latter of which saw a 165% increase in sales the quarter after it relaunched online, the company said.

This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Texas-based Pier 1 Imports is back — but you won’t see any storefronts."