As you lived in the Bay State, I'm surprised you didn't include Christmas Tree Shops on your list of what would make TV perfect.

CTS is the store that would make the villages perfect!!! and they should move into porter's old site! there is a bed, bath and beyond [what i can afford] already here, so there must be a distribution site close enough to service a cts as well.

i have two local cts stores and when i buy something there i always give my villages zip code since that is how they determine store placement. am excited that i will be shopping the cts, nh in a few weeks - no sales tax!!!! :)

What's a HomeGoods store? Am an avid shopper from Canada and we don't have one. We drive to Orlando to Costco...so is Altamonte an easier/shorter drive?...or stop and go. Thanks.

You can google "home goods".

Here's a list of some of the items they carry.

Top Categories.
Furniture
Home Decor
Area Rugs
Bookcases
Computer Desks
File Cabinets
TV Stands
Bathroom Vanities

I bought bedspreads, sheets and pillows of a high quality and their prices are extremely low for what you get. There are some in Canada in Ottowa, Quebec and Toronto. Use the store locator function.

I hope this helps.

HomeGoods is owned/operated by the TJMaxx group, and HomeGoods is a huge store of all home furnishings....take the best of TJMaxx and Marshalls, multiply it by 10 and it's HomeGoods. They have large furniture pieces too, sometimes at a fourth of the furniture store price.

Coming from MA we had our share of Christmas Tree Shops and one here in the Villages certainly would be great. When we first moved to MA I thought that the Christmas Tree shop only sold "Christmas" items. Boy, was I surprised when I walked into one for the first time.

We had a Christmas Tree Shop, one half mile from Costco's. That was always a fun day.

Home Goods is like a large better stocked HomeSense store. They are great! When we bought our house in Buttonwood this year we made several trips to three different ones in the Orlando area.

It used to be that way. When my family and I first began our practice of vacationing in wonderful Cape Cod in the early 80's the Christmas Tree Shops were exactly that; Christmas Shops. We made it a regular practice to shop for interesting Christmas fare on our summer vacation. It was a little magical.

Eventually that changed. The first summer my wife and I walked into a CTS and saw it had become a kind of huge discount store of crafts and things, we were appalled. It had only a little section of Christmas notions and we didn't like it.

That changed as they got their feet under them, and by the time they moved to Paramus NJ with a huge store, we became fans. So many bargains.

Any news updates on the Home Goods store when it going to open up here?

combo TJ Maxx & Homegoods
 

they have combo stores as well, maybe we'll get one of those. I bought some stuff in Orlando at a Homegoods (near Dr. Phillips) when I was visiting my daughter, asked about returns to TJ Maxx and they said only if it's a combo store - so, I'm hoping . . .

There's a combo store very near to me in Columbus, OH, love to shop there. It's also near an Asian grocery store - speaking of which, are there any good ones close to TV?

I was surprised to find that the Home Goods store in Winter Garden was combined with a Marshall's. TJ Maxx and Marshall's must be kin.

All 3 are part of the same parent corporation:

http://www.tjx.com/

Bill :)

True
 

You can interchangeably use gift cards from TJ Maxx and Marshall's, but apparently you can only return Homegoods stuff to another Homegoods or a combo store.

Frank....if you and yours go to the northtowns, there is a TJ Maxx on Sheridan near Niagara Falls Blvd. Inside that TJX is Homegoods...my fav! I am VERY excited there will be a Homegoods near TV.....great store!