Levin Furniture stores now will close
Seller reneges on sale, blames it on pandemic
Robert Levin’s dream of saving the furniture store chain his grandparents founded 100 years ago has come to an end, at least temporarily, and it’s taking some 1,200 jobs with it.
On Friday, Mr. Levin said seller Art Van Furniture LLC has decided to immediately close all 44 Levin locations and Wolf Furniture stores, citing lost business due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The website Furniture Today is reporting that the office of the U.S. Trustee has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to intervene, and Mr. Levin still hopes to find a way to save the business.
“I’m not giving up on this deal,” he said Friday afternoon. “What the next step is I’m not sure, but I am committed to these people.”
Mr. Levin said the two parties had executed a letter of intent for him to buy the business as an ongoing concern through bankruptcy court, but the subsequent reduction in sales prompted Art Van to decide to not go ahead with the deal. Levin’s had announced more than a week ago that it was closing its furniture and mattress stores “until further notice” due to the pandemic and the risk to customers and Levin employees.
“We were a casualty of the economic impact of the virus,” said Mr. Levin, adding that he expects other deals-in-the-making across the country will suffer the same fate.
Just two weeks ago, Mr. Levin
and his wife, Kerry Bron, were celebrating with Levin Furniture executives in the main showroom of the Monroeville store after he announced he was reacquiring the furniture and home furnishing business along with Johnstown-based Wolf Furniture.
At the time, he had shared just how close Levin’s had come to closing: Liquidators had been scheduled to be at the Monroeville store the next morning, and “going out of business” signs would have been installed outside that weekend.
Mr. Levin said he had been horrified at the prospect of 1,200 Levin employees being laid off after hearing that Art Van’s parent company, a private investment firm, might be filing for bankruptcy and closing all the stores.
What followed were days of high-stress negotiations — during which the 63-yearold businessman said he lost 6 pounds — and he believed he had sealed the deal to buy back the Levin’s chain, as well as the Wolf Furniture locations in Central Pennsylvania. But it was not to be.
In a release Friday, Mr. Levin said he is establishing a $2 million fund to provide grants and loans to Levin and Wolf employees to help with health care costs. He also said he plans to meet with advisers and former Levin executives “to develop a plan to bring Levin and Wolf back into business.”
He added that he will hire a firm to monitor the bankruptcy court filing.
“I cannot express my disappointment with the way all of this has unfolded,” Mr. Levin said. “My heart breaks for all of the loyal employees, many of whom are like family to me, and the customers who were so excited about our shared futures together.”