Levitz Furniture Going Out of Business

[The Straight Story]

Levitz Furniture Going Out of Business

Levitz Furniture, which has been in business since 1910, is closing all 76 stores nationwide.

The company has 32 stores in California, including two in Sacramento, one each in Stockton and Modesto and eight in the Bay Area.

It is unknown how many employees chainwide are affected by the closings.

The move comes after a bankruptcy approved the $57.6 million sale of the chain Monday to an investment group.

"Unfortunately, those new investors that invested in our company happen to be liquidators," John Schooley, employee at Levitz North Highlands store said. "Now, instead of renewing the company or investing new money in it, they decided to liquidate it."

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=36053

[supernova]

1. Used to be a HUMONGO warehouse in Greensboro

I don't know if it's still there or not.

"You'll love it at Levitz!!"

[begin_within]

4. There is a gigantic one here in San Diego too, that had an enormous

red Levitz sign that you could see for miles. I think that building is now Jerome's furniture.

[Kahuna]

23. I don't love it at Levitz. I was pissed when they took over

Huffman Koos and Seamans. :wtf: So I went shopping for a bedroom set and stopped in Levitz. They had the most boring selection of furniture I've ever seen. :puke:

[Deja Q]

2. A Levitz store in my area went out of business some 3 years ago.

Sad.

[Rosemary2205]

3. They've been in shrink mode for quite a long time.

They pulled out of Atlanta and shortly thereafter several cities in the midwest at about the same time about 10 years ago.

[Angela Shelley]

5. Brings back childhood memories ...

we used to "HAVE TO" spend an afternoon each year at the Levitz in Phoenix.

One afternoon (early 1970s) I crawled around the couch displays and tore off all of the price tickets and hid them underneath seat cushions in a different department.

Maybe that was the beginning of a long chain of events leading to liquidation?

[Bobbieo]

12. This does bring back memories - Sam Levitz

was a personal friend in Tucson in the 1950s. It was like Levitz was the only furnitrue store in the country.

[Angela Shelley]

13. and Dairy Queen was the only ice cream store,

and KFC was the only place that had cole slaw,

[Bitwit1234]

6. The went out of business some places in Maryland

over 15 years ago.

[Benhurst]

7. It's my understaning that the trend is for all the furniture in the world

to be made in China.

Why am I not surprised?

[Angela Shelley]

9. Whoa! There are still countries in this world

which appreciate quality furniture.

Not everyone on this planet is dependent on Chinese Chairs.

[Benhurst]

11. No, but speaking from a NC perspective, the furniture business is in

danger of following the textile business -- to China.

And some of the furniture made in China is quite fine. They have been in the business at least several thousand years, after all.

I can remember as a child seeing the broadcast where Huntley and Brinkley showed the first Japanese car being unloaded in the United States. They treated it as a big joke. A Japanese car! Who's laughing now?

[madrchsod]

8. hell just store the furniture in the containers from china...

fucking chinese furniture.....i reupholstered furniture for 20 years.a lot of american workers were thrown out of work because of the cheap chinese labor.... :argh:

[Warpy]

10. Them and Comp USA on the same day

and here I thought the announcements would wait until after the Xmas shopping season turned out to be a total dud.

Well, it's predictable. With fewer people able to buy houses and those that have them making do with broken down junk in order to be able to keep them, nobody's loving it at Levitz any more.

[tularetom]

14. They closed their store in arroyo grande CA 6 months ago

I sorta thought this might be coming.

[slackmaster]

15. For a while in the '70s Levitz had THE MOST ANNOYING TV ads

:argh:

[Angela Shelley]

16. any more annoying than "gun owner" threads at DU?

[slackmaster]

19. Even more annoying than low post-count stalker troll thread-jacking flamers

:hi:

[JustAnotherGen]

17. Is this the same

Levitz that always has some great '0% down no payments for 2 years' ads in the Sunday paper? I'd never heard of them until I came to New Jersey (there's one about 2 miles from me).

I tend to agree with the poster from North Carolina. The one time I went in there? It's not the quality of furniture you are going to get if you buy a wine cabinet or jelly cabinet made in NC. Or the beautiful bookshelves from 'Amish Country'. Even though - *hides head in paperbag* . . . most of my stuff comes from Viking International - I still bought my china cabinet from a craftsman down there. And took a Saturday drive out west to PA for my book cases.

There's something sturdy, beautiful, and the 'craft' of the North Carolina furniture makers who took pride in what they created . . . in that beautiful pine china cabinet. :-) There's a beautiful simplicity in the 'Only in America Amish' furniture maker's book case.

I fear for our crafts people. I really do. We focus so much on the churn and burn cheap - that we are losing appreciation for someone taking the time to put heart and soul in a piece of work.

[Evoman]

20. There is a difference between a piece of art and a cheapo product, isn't there.

I don't get the walmart furniture thing, myself. I'm a poor ass student, but I've never bought anything furniture from wal-mart. I have a bunch of hand me downs that may be worn, but work nonetheless. Ironically, I was given some furniture by people who didn't need it anymore after buying their fake wood furniture from walmart. WTF?

[Evoman]

18. I think there is just something creepy about liquidators.

Investing in something, just so you can tear it apart and sell it, rubs me the wrong way. I just think that businesses should provide services or products, not destroy them.

I'm not a business guy, so maybe I just don't get it.

[JustAnotherGen]

21. I'm a business 'girl'

And I don't get it either. These folks are the new century's Gordon Gekkos(sp?). Seriously. Check out the movie Wall Street - it's their mentality in a nutshell.

Man - that movie is awfully relevant these days.

[AlCzervik]

22. i thought they were already out of business, this news is like finding out a celebrity you

thought was already dead has actually just died. "Oh, ok, carry on"

[Solar_Power]

24. Investment group will resell the stores and make millions in profits

Funny how these scams work all the time