Business has slowed for most Spokane-area furniture stores in the last nine to 12 months, forcing some to make changes and others to close their doors.


Furniture store operators blame the cooler overall economy for fewer sales. Slumping home sales are contributing to the recent downturn in furniture sales, they say, along with a fall-off in home building.


In the last year, Furniture Superstore Inc., of Kent, Wash., closed two stores here, Furniture Super Center, at 5605 E. Sprague, and Furniture Supercenter Gallery, at 8016 N. Division. Also, Burgans Fine Furniture, at the corner of Boone Avenue and Division, closed its doors this spring after 93 years.


In my history of the store, I dont remember a time being as challenging as it is now, says Bruce McEachran, who co-owned Burgans. He says business was down 10 percent for the last six months Burgans was open, compared with the comparable periods in each of the previous two years. The general economy had people questioning their spending, and limiting it more and more to the basics, like groceries and gas, he says.


At a time like this, he says, It gives owners a chance to look closer at their operation and decide what is necessary and what isnt.


Charles Home Furnishing, at 5716 E. Sprague, which opened in August 2007, is closing Oct. 20, but its for reasons other than poor sales, says Robert Goff, the store manager. The family that owns the stores Council Bluffs, Iowa- based parent company, Charles Schneider Fine Furniture, which has long been a manufacturer of furniture, decided they no longer want to be in the retail furniture business, Goff says.


Mark Walker, co-owner of Walkers Furniture Inc., says, Business was great with the big housing boom the last three years, referring to 2005 through 2007. Everyone was building new homes, moving to new homes. That definitely influences things for us.


At Walkers three stores here, at 15 E. Boone, 14214 E. Sprague, and 4402 N. Division, sales generally have cooled off this year, Walker says. Furniture sales in Spokane still are fairly consistent compared with those in other places, he says, with businesses here benefitting from customers visiting the city from neighboring towns to shop for furniture.


Rick Ennis, co-owner of Ennis Fine Furniture and Thomasville Home Furnishings, says, Definitely this year has softened a bit. But not as much in Spokane as it is around the country.


Ennis says he has seen mixed sales results in the last year. Ennis Fine Furniture, at 8313 N. Division, is up in sales about 4 percent for the year, compared with the year-earlier period. Thomasville, at 5511 E. Third, is down about 6 percent, he says. He says Ennis Fine Furniture is likely doing better because its more established.


Im tickled that our numbers are only single-digit increase or decrease, rather than being down by double-digit percentages, he says.


The outlook is different for Doug Johnson, co-owner and president of Horizon Furniture, at 3808 N. Sullivan, who says, Everybody I know in the business is off, and quite a bit off. He attributes that to the slowed housing market.


Its just hard to get people to shake loose with their money, he says. Hes been in the industry for 30 years, he says, and this is the toughest selling environment hes seen.


Weve trimmed back our staff, cut back on advertising, (and) done everything we can to cut overhead, he says.


Mark Barnes, owner of National Furniture Store Inc., at 1230 N. Division, says he has cut employee hours by a person and a half as business has slowed because of the housing market and high fuel prices.


We first noticed it in the last week in December, around Christmas time. Itll come back, Barnes says, predicting the market may straighten out next spring. Business didnt get slow because of something Im doing.


Meanwhile, hes spending some money remodeling his building.


My focus right now is down the road, Barnes says. Im spending time getting ready for when things turn around.


Steve LeClair, owner of La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries, at 10205 N. Division, says he has put plans to open a retail store in Spokane Valley on hold because of slow sales. La-Z-Boy had a store in the Valley several years ago, but closed it, and now the company has just a warehouse there.


Its not good right now, but its not terrible, or unbearable, LeClair says. People are just afraid of whats going on with gas, grocery, and energy costs, the stock market, and banking industry. Fear is contributing to slower sales.


Still, he says, business at his La-Z-Boy store is up slightly from last year, and he plans to maintain normal operations while looking to the future.


At Sofa Mart, inside the Furniture Row Shopping Center, at 13410 E. Indiana, store manager Travis Kegley says business in September was comparable to the same time last year. Sofa Mart opened in May 2007, he says.


Though Sofa Mart is doing all right, he acknowledges there has been an overall slowdown for Spokane furniture retailers. We all feel it, he says.


A representative for Mor Furniture For Less in Spokane says its sales have been steady.


The problem of slow furniture sales is a national one.


The furniture buying index, compiled each month by Americas Research Group, a consumer behavior research company based in Charleston, S.C., rose four points to a reading of 59 in the latest survey.


There is still a long way to go before the index hits 70, which is when retailers will see better consumer response to their advertising, Britt Beemer, chairman of the research group, said in a September news release.


The increase, he said, was the first since a downward slide started last year. The furniture buying index is compiled each month by the research group from interviews with 5,000 to 8,000 consumers across the country.