Art Furniture, which has operated for nearly 14 years at Arizona Avenue and Elliot Road in Chandler, is going out of business, a casualty of the housing slump.

A liquidation sale is under way.

At one time, owner Yalchin Balci was grossing nearly $1.5 million a year. But business began to fall in 2006. The death knell for the company came in November, traditionally the busiest month for furniture retailers, when business was off 70 percent.

The decision to close the business has been painful. Read more »

At Amish Furniture Gallery’s new 16,000 square foot store in Batavia, store manager Brian Zerm told me there are 61 different styles of tables on display. One in particular caught my eye: a tabletop of cherry wood with hickory log legs. The matching chairs had cherry wood seats and hickory log chair backs and legs. It was gorgeous, rustic, and heavy. “Here, lift one. See how it dents the carpet,” said Zerm.

“People are surprised when they come into the store for the first time,” said Zerm. “Many people think we have only rustic and country. But we have Shaker, Mission, Arts/crafts and contemporary styling as well. People tell me they’ve been looking for a dining room set for two years. They come in here and find two or three right off. For just a little more than something made in China, people can have heirloom quality. It’ll last forever.” Read more »

Ask merchants along Furniture Row on Route 110 in Farmingdale about a new player moving in and you get shrugged shoulders and some “big deal” expressions.

False bravado or not, this is a big deal: Bob’s Discount Furniture opened on Route 110 Thursday, positioning itself in a 32,000-square-foot store between a giant Levitz outlet and the more modest Design Furniture Gallery. The Connecticut stalwart joins more than 25 furniture stores on Route 110, a strip some in the industry say is the highest concentration of furniture shops in the country outside North Carolina.

Those already established on Furniture Row affect a blasé attitude about Bob’s. “It’s just another furniture store,” said Albert Macanian of Design Furniture Gallery, while Jose Samora, manager of the neighboring Levitz, added, “Bob had to come here. Everyone is here on Route 110.” Read more »

Family owned and operated by the George D (Bud) Boyles Jr. family, Carolina Furniture Mart spans over 60,000 square feet of showroom in Lincolnton, NC, representing the finest quality manufacturers and importers of furniture worldwide.

While the mart has many selections from their lines on display, visitors to their new website are able to pre-shop and have some of their questions answered prior to visiting the facility itself. The site guides customers to residential, commercial, and mattress sections where they can browse by well-known manufactures to see products.

Customers then visit or call the facility to speak with a friendly and knowledgeable associate where custom and special orders are welcome. They offer in-house decorating help from experienced area decorators and their staff. Many items are ready for pick up and deliveries can be scheduled with your order. Read more »

Roses to Roger Richert and staff from the Richmond Furniture Gallery for their tremendous support of the Tarum Shrine Club of Richmond and the Shriners Children’s Hospital. Roger arranged for Christmas pictures with Santa in his store during the Christmas festival every Tuesday in December. The donations from this event, over $400, will be used to support the Children’s Burn Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Roger graciously provided all photography equipment and pictures at his own expense. The members of the Shrine Club enjoyed visiting with Santa and all the children that participated. Roger has pledged to continue pictures with Santa next year during the festival. Read more »

The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. will celebrate the opening of its first furniture gallery in Pennsylvania at the Parkview Plaza in the Lancaster area on Jan. 24.

The celebration will last 11 days and include a free seminar of design tips by Doug Wilson, a design expert from The Learning Channel, on Jan. 27 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Read more »

Have you ever searched high and low for that just right piece of furniture only to find everything on the market to be a few inches too wide, a few inches too tall, or a few inches too deep?

That’s the challenge many clients bring to Portland based Showcase Designs, says owner Grant Hamilton.

The solution? To have a piece of custom furniture made that’s just right, he says.

Exactly What You Want

A division of Showcase Furniture Gallery, Showcase Designs focuses solely on building custom furniture piece by piece. Read more »

Noah’s Art Furniture Gallery celebrated its grand opening with a
ribbon-cutting ceremony with the help of the West Orange Chamber of
Commerce Ambassadors. The furniture gallery has consolidated all its
stores from the malls throughout Central Florida into 1 large location
of 40,000 square feet, located at 7044 W. Colonial Drive, Orlando.
Noah’s Art is a full-service store that offers unique and exotic
furniture and accessories, along with popular gift and collectible
lines. Pictured are (l-r): Ron Garrison, Pam Gould (Chamber chairman),
Stina D’Uva (Chamber president), Pat Gleason, Kay Behrens, Soraya
Tamaddon, Peymon Tamaddon, Nina Sowell, Fred Vahdat, Dorcas Dillard,
Lori Tyson and Shane Tamaddon.

Fredericksburg had only three furniture stores when Powell’s Furniture opened on the corner of Winchester and William streets in 1942.

And those stores–Beck Furniture, E.C. Ninde and White & Weeks–were all locally owned and operated.

Sixty-four years later, Powell’s original competitors have either closed or been bought by chains. But the store, now run by the third generation of Powells, is facing more competition than ever.

The Fredericksburg area currently has several dozen major furniture stores and a number of smaller, specialty stores selling everything from baby cribs to La-Z-Boys. Many are chains, although there are still a handful of home-grown stores such as D’Marie’s in Thornburg, Gallahans near Lee Hill Shopping Center, and Simms, which has stores on U.S. 1 and in Chatham Square Shopping Center. Read more »

The $90 million, 26-acre South Coast Home Furnishings Centre in Costa Mesa is well on its way to a planned July opening.

The center, about a mile north of South Coast Plaza near Ikea, is about 75% leased already, according to Irvine-based developer Birtcher Development & Investments LLC.

The center is designed for furniture and home accessories showrooms in a mall setting—food court and all. It’s set to be landscaped with space for people to walk around and look at the water fountain, argue about the color of their new living room set, or sit on a bench and debate bathroom fixtures over coffee. Tenants include C.S. Wo, a Hawaiian furniture company, NW Rugs, Office Furniture Gallery, Faucets Galore and Flexa.

Faucets Galore just opened its first store at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach. Other center tenants: Wickes Furniture, Banner Mattress, La-Z-Boy, Creative Leather, Salmo’s Furniture and Munro’s Furniture.

Interior Surroundings, an upscale contemporary furniture store at The Market Place in Tustin, will be leaving at the end of its lease early next year and moving to the South Coast Home Furnishings Centre.

The center, in the works for three years, is looking for a few other tenants, said Bjorn Davidson, development manager for Birtcher. Read more »