Art Van Furniture, a Metro Detroit institution and one of the largest furniture retailers in the Midwest, will close all of its company-owned stores and liquidate its inventory after struggling with changing furniture-shopping habits and heavy debt following its acquisition by a private equity firm three years ago, the Detroit News reported. Founded in 1959 with one store by Art Van Elslander, the Warren-based company expanded significantly in the last seven years to 190 stores in nine states, including Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio. All 3,100 of its employees will lose their jobs and questions loomed yesterday about what will fill the space left by the closed stores. In addition to its main stores, the company also operates Art Van PureSleep, Art Van Flooring, Scott Shuptrine Interiors, Levin Furniture, Levin Mattress, Wolf Furniture and Gardiner Wolf Furniture. All of those stores will close except for some of the Levin and Wolf stores. Former Levin President and owner Robert Levin has agreed to acquire the bulk of the Levin and Wolf Furniture operations in Pennsylvania and Ohio, pending court approval.
