Levitz Furniture was a nationwide

chain A chain is a wikt:series#Noun, serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression (physics), compression but line (g ...

of American furniture stores that helped create the "furniture warehouse" genre of retail furniture sales. It was in business for nearly 100 years before liquidating in bankruptcy in early 2008.

History

Growth

The company was founded in

Lebanon, Pennsylvania Lebanon () is a city in and the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 26,814 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in the central part of the Lebanon Valley, east of Harrisburg and west of Reading. ...

, in 1910 by Richard Levitz. Story displays with JavaScript disabled. In the 1960s, Levitz, expanded by Richard's sons Leon and Ralph, successfully pioneered the sales of moderately priced brand-name furniture from a

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, ...

-style store. It suffered in the 1990s as consumers began to prefer

showroom A plumbing fixture showroom, Canada, 1921 A showroom, also referred to as a gallery, is a large space used to display products, entertainment or visual arts. Marketing location A showroom is a large space used to display products for sale, suc ...

sales that featured spaces arranged to look like actual rooms in houses. The chain continued to expand in 2005, when they acquired

Seaman's Furniture Seaman's Furniture was an American chain of furniture stores based in Woodbury, New York. History The company was founded by Julius Seaman in 1933 with its first store in Brooklyn, New York. The chain was in business for more than 70 years unti ...

and

Huffman Koos Huffman may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places United States * Huffman, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Huffman, Texas, an unincorporated community * Huffman, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Huffman, West Virginia, an unincorporated commu ...

stores after bankruptcy.

On a related note

Six years after Leon Levitz' retirement and no longer associated with the Levitz Furniture company, the co-founder reentered the furniture market purchasing the store chain RB Furniture eventually renamed The RoomStore, eventually selling them to Heilig-Meyers. He along with other family members, later bought into Ashley Furniture HomeStores, eventually owning 9 locations.

Marketing

The store is known for that

slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group. Th ...

and

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

"You'll love it at Levitz." As well as in the spanish commercial with that

and

"Le encantará Levitz."

Bankruptcy and liquidation

Levitz was accused of having been poorly run for more than a decade starting in the 1990s. It declared

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whet ...

twice during the period, in 1997 and again in 2005, both times emerging after a

corporate restructuring Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. Other reasons ...

and the participation of new outside backers. On December 21, 1998, Levitz announced it would close 27 stores and lay off 25% of its workforce. The company downsized its warehouse system from 65 to 17 sites. The furniture market underwent a prolonged nationwide downturn after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, and was hurt again in late 2007 by the

2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline in US home prices after the coll ...

. Levitz filed for bankruptcy the final time in October 2007. As of that time, it was operating nearly 80 stores, mostly in the Northeastern United States and on the West Coast, under the corporation PLVTZ

LLC A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

. In October 2008, Levitz Furniture, with bankruptcy court approval, converted its Chapter 11 case to Chapter 7, and started liquidation sales. The company was sold in bankruptcy to a group of bidders, led by Hilco Merchant Resources, that acted to rapidly liquidate its inventory and close all remaining stores. Private investment company Oak Point Partners acquired the remnant assets, consisting of any known and unknown assets that weren't previously administered, from the PLVTZ, Inc. aka Levitz Furniture Bankruptcy Estate on March 19, 2013.Order Granting Application for an Order Approving the Sale of Certain Assets of the Debtor's Estate to Oak Point Partners
''Bankrupt Company News'', March 19, 2013

History

Growth

On a related note

Marketing

Bankruptcy and liquidation

References

Further reading

See also