[PICS] Appropriately Named Home Store is Now Open in Billings

Occasionally, I will miss important details in emails or conversations because I wasn't really paying attention. There. I said it. That was the case today (2/23) when I excitedly rushed over to King Ave West to check out what I thought was going to be three grand openings all happening at once.

Located between Best Buy and Home Depot (in the former, long-empty Big Bear Sports building) there are three new stores; Sierra, Petco, and HomeGoods. Because I didn't actually read the memo, I thought they were all opening today. That was not the case. Peeking in the locked doors of Sierra and Petco revealed they are probably still weeks away from opening. They were pretty much empty shells at this point.

HomeGoods, on the other hand, was open today and I had to check it out. Let's take a look.

Crazy champagne bucket!

The store was busy on opening day so I ducked into the first aisle that didn't have a bunch of people in it and saw this wild antler-themed ice bucket. Sweet.

Lots of fun bar stuff.

Shakers, wine glasses, whiskey tumblers, stirrers, gadgets... they have a big selection of items for your home bar.

Unique food items.

The store has a couple of aisles of unique spices, rubs, oils, etc. Not as much as World Market, but still an impressive selection.

Funky, cool furniture.

Kitchen gadgets.

I saw some nice deals on small kitchen appliances, like air fryers, blenders and whatnot.

The coolest lamp I've ever seen.

Check out the lamp in the picture (above) on the right. It resembles one of those giant old Hollywood set lamps.

Pots and pans of all types.

Storage solutions.

The store had a couple of aisles of home organization-type items, such as hampers, baskets, and hangers.

Seasonal items.

Guess what? The Eastern Bunny is coming. But first, St. Patty's Day.

Pet items.

HomeGoods has a big selection of pet toys and the bowls (above) really caught my eye.

Quirky decorative pieces.

Ha! Look at this groovy dude, sandwiched with peace-out signs.

It's like a TJ Maxx, only with no clothing.

As soon as I walked into the store, I thought, "it kind of feels like a TJ Maxx." Which makes sense, now that I remember it's owned by the same company. This store feels slightly more upscale than our TJ Maxx and I love that it's all home stuff instead of mostly clothing.

All hands on deck.

The bustling store had around a half-dozen cheery staff members at the tills and greeters at the door for the grand opening. Hopefully, they won't run into staffing problems like so many other businesses in town.

Here's what I bought.

I felt guilty just wandering around the store taking pictures for this article, so I bought a couple of items for the kitchen. A four-pack of flexible cutting mats and a new frying pan that feels like somewhat decent quality. My total was $18.95 and I got a free bag that took me a second to read correctly.