Report says California retailer Linder's Furniture will close

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, November 4, 2011

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Top 100 company Linder's Furniture here is preparing to close all of its showrooms, according to a local report that cited interviews with store managers.

Employees couldn't say when liquidation sales would begin, but store managers confirmed that all of the California company's stores would close, the Palm Springs (Calif.) Desert Sun said in its report.

Linder's President Eric Foucrier, contacted earlier this week by Furniture/Today about the possibility of liquidation, said nothing had been finalized and that "the process is still up in the air." Responding to an email this morning, Foucrier declined to comment other than to say the retailer still doesn't have a "closed deal."

Sources have told Furniture/Today the retailer was considering an assignment for the benefit of creditors, an action in lieu of bankruptcy that involves turning over assets to creditors.

Linder's was No. 81 on Furniture/Today's Top 100 with estimated 2010 furniture, bedding and accessories sales of $60.1 million at its 11 Southern California stores. Among its key vendors noted earlier this year were Legacy Classic, Fine Furniture Design, Sealy, Universal and Wynwood.

Just last year, the company was in expansion mode, having opened two new superstore formats in Rancho Cucamonga and Cathedral City, Calif., each with about 50,000 square feet of selling space, or about double the typical Linder's store size.