112-year-old furniture chain closes long-time store location

The furniture industry has suffered from economic distress this year, with several retail chains closing store locations and a number of them filing for bankruptcy.Common reasons for retailers' financial problems have included rising labor and product costs driven by inflation, increased tariff rates on imported products, an ongoing real estate downturn, caused by higher mortgage rates and rising property values, which discourages furniture buyers.Several iconic furniture chains that have operated for decades have closed their businesses recently due to financial distress.Iconic furniture retailers shut down their businesses78-year-old Outten Bros. Home Furnishings of Salisbury, Md., shut down its business at the close of business on Nov. 30, following a liquidation sale. Another 78-year-old furniture chain, New Deal Furniture of El Paso, Texas, began a final liquidation sale on Oct. 2, and continues what it calls its "Final Phase" of a Going Out of Business Sale. The retailer has not revealed its final day of business.Neither Outten, nor New Deal offered a specific reason for closing down.Other furniture chains that filed for Chapter 11 protection this year include Landmark Furniture parent Brenmark Inc. on Nov. 9, Walker Edison Furniture Company on Aug. 28, American Mattress on July 6, and 5th Avenue Furniture on June 6.American Signature filed bankruptcy to sell assetsAmerican Signature Inc., which operates American Signature Furniture and Value City furniture chains, in October revealed that it would close all four of its Nashville-area stores.The furniture chain owner, which operated 120 stores across the U.S. with 3,200 employees, subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 22 to reorganize its business and sell its assets to stalking-horse bidder ASI Purchaser LLC, after closing several stores."Although the company experienced a period of opportunistic growth during COVID, like many peers in the industry, it has since faced significantly decreased sales volume over the past year, resulting from one of the most severe housing market declines in recent history, alongside other macroeconomic factors and heightened cost pressures due to rising inflation, elevated interest rates, newly established tariffs, and a post-pandemic slowdown in consumer demand for furniture," American Signature co-chief restructuring officer Rudy Morando said in court papers.Also, the franchisee of the large furniture retail chain Buddy’s Home Furnishings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 4 to implement an automatic stay of legal proceedings, halt foreclosure sales of its properties, and either reorganize its business or seek a going-concern sale of its assets to continue operating, rather than liquidating. Hub Furniture closes its store that has been open for over 55 years.Shutterstock Hub Furniture closes 55-year-old storeAnd now, Portland, Maine-based Hub Furniture will close its Westbrook, Maine, store, which it has operated for over 55 years, after completing a clearance sale in December.Hub Furniture's owner, Sam Novick, whose grandfather co-founded the furniture retailer over 112 years ago, said the Westbrook store was too small, and customers would travel to the Portland store to shop, according to WMTW-TV 8."We've been there a long time," Novick said. "My mother worked and managed that store for some 50 years, so it was a very meaningful location."The Westbrook store has marked down many items, and whatever does not sell before the closing will be moved to the Portland store, Novick said.More closings:Casual Mexican restaurant chain closes more locations79-year-old national trucking company closes down, no bankruptcy65-year-old Home Depot rival shutters business permanentlyHub Furniture, which was established in 1913, moved to its current historic Old Port location, an old chewing gum factory, on Fore Street in Portland in the 1960s, according to the Press-Herald.The iconic furniture retailer will continue to offer a variety of living room, dining room, entertainment, home accents, mattresses, and office furniture from its five-story Portland store.Hub Furniture productsLiving roomDining roomEntertainmentHome accentsMattressesOffice furnitureHub Furniture features top-name brands, including Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., England Furniture Co., Bassett, Legends Furniture, Best Home Furnishings, Southern Motion, Fjords, Sealy, and Tempur-Pedic.Hub Furniture brandsAshley Furniture Industries Inc.England Furniture Co.BassettLegends Furniture Best Home FurnishingsSouthern MotionFjordsSealyTempur-PedicRelated: Beloved beer brand and brewery closes down, no bankruptcy yet