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Dow Furniture in North Aurora announces plans to close

The owners of Dow Furniture in North Aurora announced the store, known for its Made in America furniture, will close at the end of the month.

The company website says the store, at 211 S. Lincolnway (Route 31), is holding clearance sales and that the warehouse is being cleared of furniture, wood and glass shelves, wood and glass table tops and more. "We are retiring," she site states. Company President Jean Dow McAtee said the store will close at the end of August.

The retailer was founded by Bert Dow in 1959. Prior to that, Dow had been part owner of a furniture store in downtown Aurora since the 1920s.

"We primarily deal with smaller, family-owned furniture firms located around the Midwest," McAtee told the Daily Herald three years ago. She runs the store with her sister, Jan Dow Showalter.

Canada is the only place from which the store imports furniture. Dow Furniture buys leather and fabric sofas, recliners and chairs from Smith Brothers of Berne, Ind.; Norwalk of Norwalk, Ohio; Comfort Design of North Carolina; and Village Designs of Virginia.

Most Dow Furniture customers live in the Fox Valley or at least within a 60-mile radius of the store, but Dow Furniture has its own delivery staff and would deliver to downtown Chicago, as well as to Lake Geneva and Galena.

McAtee said in 2013 that she noticed that customers, no matter what their age, were being conservative when it comes to their furniture purchases.

Dow only sells leather furniture, however. It doesn't sell vinyl, splits or bonded leathers. When it comes to solid wood furniture, maple and cherry have been popular.

  Jan Showalter is the president of Dow Furniture in North Aurora. The store will close this month. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com, file photo January 2013
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