When people move into a new home, they will often purchase new furniture for their new surroundings.
Furniture stores rely on a strong housing market to prompt customers to purchase their living room, dining room, and bedroom furnishings. When the housing market declines, as it has over the last four years, so do furniture sales.
Existing home sales have declined to their lowest level in 30 years after mortgage rates spiked from over 3% in late 2021 to about 7.24% on Oct. 26, 2026, according to Realtor.com. In the first half of 2026, furniture store sales declined 2% year-to-date to $65.1 billion, according to U.S. Department of Commerce in July.
Four independent furniture retailers are permanently closing their businesses in October and November.
Four furniture retailers close businesses
Four independent furniture retailers — Garnand Fine Furniture, Hurwitz Mintz, American Home Furniture & Mattress, and Hart’s Home Furniture & Mattress — announced they would close their stores and liquidate all inventory over the next few weeks.
“The traditional business model is no longer viable,” bankruptcy attorney Jonathan Shenson, of Greenberg Glusker LLP told TheStreet in an email. “Consumers are sourcing furniture overseas, purchasing online, or buying through mass distributors and national chains such as Ikea, and independent, family-owned stores cannot compete on those economics.”
“At the same time, furniture is a big-ticket, discretionary purchase, and a weakening economy and persistent inflation have led customers to defer those purchases. Where the underlying business is no longer sustainable, an orderly liquidation of inventory and closure is often the most rational outcome, and that is the pattern emerging across the sector,” Shenson said.
116-year-old store liquidates
Garnand Fine Furniture in Garden City, Kan., which at its peak operated five locations in Kansas and one in Nebraska, is closing its final location at 1401 East Kansas Ave. after operating for 116 years, the company said in an Oct. 22 statement.
The family-owned and operated store will be open for the next four to five weeks or however long it takes to liquidate its inventory, a person who answered the store phone said on Oct. 26.
“The decision comes after much consideration and marks the end of a truly remarkable chapter — one made possible by the loyalty, friendship and trust generations of customers have placed in Garnand Fine Furniture over more than a century,” the retailer said in a statement.
Garnand Fine Furniture did not state a specific reason for closing the store.
Another store closes after 102 years
Family-owned Hurwitz Mintz in Metairie, La., announced on its website that it is closing after 102 years of operating but has not set a final date of operations.
“Thank you for more than a century of shopping with Hurwitz Mintz!,” the company said on its website. “Until we say goodbye, we invite you to enjoy tremendous savings of 60% to 70% off storewide.”
Hurwitz Mintz also did not state a reason for closing.
Albuquerque, N.M.-based American Home Furniture & Mattress, which has been in business for 90 years, announced on its website that it is going out of business and liquidating its inventory. The store will close its doors permanently in a couple of weeks after it finishes selling off its inventory, a person who answered the store phone said on Oct. 26.
American Home Furniture & Mattress did not indicate why it was shutting down.
Finally, Auburn, Mass.-based Hart’s Home Furniture & Mattress, which opened three years ago, has scheduled a final day of operation for Oct. 27, which will be followed by an online auction at the end of the week, a person who answered the store’s phone said on Oct. 26.
The furniture store is closing after its building was sold to another furniture retail operation.
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