The first site in Melbourne’s east will showcase styled room sets and curated collections across 3800 square metres, positioning the discount chain for a bigger slice of Australia’s $27.5 billion furniture and interiors market.
K Home launches this month in Box Hill as a standalone “home living” retailer, separate from Kmart’s traditional discount department stores. The Wesfarmers-owned chain plans to stock the full Anko range in-store, alongside larger furniture and storage pieces that previously existed only online.
Shoppers walk through room-set displays designed to show complete looks, giving them home styling ideas while browsing. The company frames the concept as a live test to understand how customers prefer to shop furniture and interiors in person.
Store size is comparable to a supermarket, but the layout is very different to a typical Kmart, which usually spreads homewares across multiple aisles beside clothing and toys. K Home instead concentrates furniture, storage, home styling and everyday essentials in a single, tightly curated space.
Shoppers can see and touch bulkier furniture and organisation products that were once digital-only listings, which reduces the guesswork that comes with online-only purchases. The format leans heavily on Anko’s popularity, using the private label to anchor everything from décor to larger pieces.
Kmart is targeting the gap between low-priced general retailers and specialist furniture chains, leaning into IKEA-style inspiration but at Kmart price points. The concept mimics the Swedish giant’s approach of fully styled rooms and a clear home-living focus, but strips out non-home categories to sharpen the offer.
Retail analysts see this as a way for Wesfarmers to test whether Kmart can play in bigger-ticket furniture without overhauling its existing stores. If the Box Hill trial resonates, K Home could become a template for rolling Anko-branded home stores into other suburbs and cities.
