127-year-old furniture retail icon shuts down, no bankruptcy

Local furniture stores were popular with consumers dating back to the 1960s, when furniture stores sold about 78 percent of products and department stores sold about 22%, based on National Association of Furniture Manufacturers 1968 estimates, Furniture World reported. It was a time when consumers ...

Dec 26, 2025 - 13:00

127-year-old furniture retail icon shuts down, no bankruptcy

Local furniture stores were popular with consumers dating back to the 1960s, when furniture stores sold about 78 percent of products and department stores sold about 22%, based on National Association of Furniture Manufacturers 1968 estimates, Furniture World reported.

It was a time when consumers in towns across the country, such as my parents, often bought their furniture from a local store owned by their friends or acquaintances. That was when major furniture chains, such as Levitz, were just starting to establish themselves and before the expansion of department store sales in shopping malls, which are now battling sales from internet retailers.

Furniture store economic challenges

Independent furniture stores have a difficult time remaining in business today, navigating various economic challenges, including competition from major chains, internet retail sales, increased labor and product costs driven by inflation, rising interest rates on products, and added costs from tariffs.

Competition has not cooled off over the last 40 years, despite major furniture chains going out of business like Levitz Furniture, which liquidated in 2008, and Breuners Home Furnishings, which shuttered its chain in 2004.

As those chains faded away, others grew, such as Swedish furniture chain Ikea, which opened its first U.S. store in June 1985 and celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, according to Furniture Today, and Ashley, which opened its first store in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1997.

Several local furniture stores have closed this year because of economic distress, but some, such as Miramar Beach, Fla., retailer Tuskers Home Store, are closing because the owners are retiring.

And it's happening again.

127-year-old Meiselwitz Furniture is closing as the owners are retiring.
Shutterstock

127-year-old furniture store's owners retire, close down

It seems like news from Ebenezer Scrooge, but 127-year-old Wisconsin furniture retailer Meiselwitz Furniture revealed in a Christmas Eve social media post that it will be permanently shutting its business after a store closing sale that begins Dec. 26.

"The owners are retiring and are closing the doors forever!," Meiselwitz Furniture said in the Facebook post. "All fine furniture and more must be liquidated at sacrifice prices! Visit us at - 328 Fremont Street, Kiel."

Meiselwitz Furniture did not indicate a last day of business, but it will likely occur once all of the inventory has been liquidated.

The iconic furniture store's owners, brothers Michael Curry and William Curry Jr., said that they would retire after completing the total liquidation of the store, located at 328 Fremont Street in Kiel, Wis.

"This business has always been about more than furniture. It has been about serving people with honesty, care, and pride," Michael Curry said in a Dec. 23 statement. "As my brother and I retire, we do so with deep gratitude for the customers, employees, and neighbors who have supported our family for so many years.

Four generations owned the furniture store

Meiselwitz Furniture's historic journey will end after a 50-year ownership by founder C.J. Meiselwitz's great-grandsons. The brothers' father, William Carl Curry, the grandson of the founder, had taken ownership of the business in 1958 during a major transition of the company.

That was the year that Meiselwitz Furniture separated its furniture business from its funeral services.

The founder's grandson had taken over the business from C.J. Meiselwitz's son, Henry Meiselwitz, who became the owner in 1922.

C.J. Meiselwitz founded the furniture store in downtown Kiel in 1898, operating in the same location since the day he first opened the doors.

More closings:

Casual Mexican restaurant chain closes more locations
79-year-old national trucking company closes down, no bankruptcy
65-year-old Home Depot rival shutters business permanently

The store had originally been established as a combination furniture store and mortuary services, which was a common combined business in the late 1800s through the 1950s.

Furniture makers back then made home furnishings and burial products before caskets became a specialized, separate business, according to a KVII-TV 7 in Amarillo, Texas report.

Meiselwitz Furniture's historic timeline

1898: C.J. Meiselwitz founded Meiselwitz Furniture at 328 Fremont Street in Kiel, Wis., as a combined furniture store/undertaking business.
1922: C.J. Meiselwitz's son, Henry Meiselwitz, becomes the store's owner.
1958: The founder's grandson, William Carl Curry, becomes owner and separates the mortuary business from the furniture store.
1975: Founder's great-grandsons Michael Curry and William Curry Jr. become owners of the furniture store.
2025: Meiselwitz Furniture reveals it will go out of business.

The going-out-of-business sale will feature discounted prices on furniture from name brands such as Corinthian, Craftmaster, Flexsteel, Franklin, Leather Italia, Liberty Furniture, Restonic, Southerland, Southern Motion, Velocity, and Vaughan-Bassett.

Kiel will lose a major contributor to the community, as the furniture store supported groups such as the Kiel Municipal Band and sponsored local sports league teams for decades, according to the statement. Meiselwitz Furniture also donated its store space to host downtown gatherings.