furniture and home: April 2009 Archives

The economic downturn is hitting local stores especially hard. Saddest among those affected are the decades-old establishments suddenly facing bankruptcy or liquidation. Recent news affects a pair of stores with particularly long histories:

• Up in Troy, N.Y., residents are girding for life without a hardware store, as Trojan Hardware is closing up shop. Trojan, the last hardware store in town, has been operating since 1915 and occupied a site that has sold hardware since the Civil War.
• And in Dallas, Siegel's liquor store, which has touted a famous neon sign since the 1950s, is closing after 50 years in business. (Timely Demise notes with a smirk that the sign seems to be more lamented than the store itself.)

Multichannel retailer iFloor, which filed for bankruptcy in December, has returned as a pure-play ecommerce site. The new entity, simply called iFloor.com, is being operated by a Chinese firm that bought iFloor's assets. The new owner is planning on being exclusively online for the time being, as iFloor's stores all closed before the takeover. Before bankruptcy iFloor had at least 35 brick-and-mortar stores along with its web presence.

A-Boy Supply, a plumbing and hardware retailer in and around Portland, Washington, is closing four of its six locations in June. The company cites general profitability concerns as the driver of the closings. A-Boy has been in business since 1960 and once had as many as nine locations.

Furniture chain Z Gallerie has filed for bankruptcy. The company said the move would strengthen the business and that it had enough cash to continue operations. Z Gallerie closed 21 of its 78 stores last this winter in response to the sales slowdown.

Several stores formerly profiled on Timely Demise are in the news today.

Pier 1, which announced up to 125 store closings in February, has closed 22 stores so far, 20 of them through lease negotiations.

Aeropostale, which has strong sales results in recent months despite the economy, issued another strong sales report, despite the Jimmy'Z store closings announced recently.

Advantage Rent-a-Car, which filed for bankruptcy in December, has been purchased by Hertz, which reportedly gives the acquiring firm a brand for budget-minded renters.

And in New Jersey, the recently bankrupt Marty's Shoes chain has been brought back to life. Its former CEO and original owner have purchased the Marty's brand out of bankruptcy and opened stores in four locations. An ecommerce site is operational, and plans are to open nearly 20 stores.

Updated April 10.

Wholesale retailer Costco has decided to close its Costco Home stores in a reaction to the lagging economy. Home furnishings has been an underperforming market and the company has shifted away from this expansion strategy.

Costco Home only has two outlets, in Tempe and in Kirkland, Washington. The Costco Home conclusion does not affect Costco's 554 warehouse locations.