Gurnee loses Amish Furniture Shoppe to tough times

A 23-year-old custom furniture company announced Wednesday that "harsh economic conditions" have forced it to close its store in Gurnee.

The Amish Furniture Shoppe, 5330 Grand Ave., is holding liquidation sales through March 31 when the store is expected to close. All floor models have been marked down between 35 and 70 percent. Special orders will be discounted 40 percent.

The company's Deerfield location is expected to remain open and will operate under a new name, Artisan Haus, to better describe the furniture sold at the business, said co-owner Jim Fisher.

"We're not country, funky furniture," Fisher said. He wonders if he should have changed the name earlier to better reflect the eclectic furniture mix.

"We haven't built anything that looks Amish," he said.

The company utilizes Dutch and Amish craftsmen mainly in Ohio to make furniture including bedroom sets, coffee tables, entertainment centers and upholstered pieces.

The furniture is then completed at a finishing facility in Ohio that Fisher owns with his wife, Jamie.

"I want everything to look like it came off a workman's bench, not off an assembly line," Jim said.

The weakening economy has driven the company not to renew the lease at the Gurnee strip center.

"Less and less people are showing up at the store," he said.

"The devastating blow was in the last 90 days," said Jim, a resident of Northbrook. He said it was a tough decision to close.

"It's devastating," he said. "This is my whole life."

He designed the Gurnee store himself, from the crown molding to the 16 different paint colors on the walls to the track lighting.

"It's a real blow. Emotionally, it was really hard to make the decision to close."

Jamie launched the small business in Evanston in 1986 before expanding to Deerfield in 1994. They brought the store north to Lake County about six years ago.

During an economic downturn, furniture is low on consumer shopping lists, according to retail experts, pointing to the shuttered Wicks furniture chain.

Experts expect more in the future.

"We're going to see a lot more (closings). This is just the tip of the iceberg," said John Melaniphy, president of Melaniphy & Associates, a retail analyst firm in Chicago. He explained that furniture, like appliances are durable goods. "They're all hurt. They're all down," Melaniphy said of the retail segment.

But he noted that high definition TVs, iPhones and electronic gear is the exception.

"When it comes to furniture, the consumer is saving their money," Melaniphy said.