Levitz Furniture

Moderator: Groceteria

luckysaver
Veteran
Posts: 295
Joined: 22 Feb 2007 17:10

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by luckysaver »

San Gabriel Valley update:

City of Industry is being remodeled for chinese grocer Tak Shing Hong (aka TS Emporium). About 2.5 miles east on Nogales is TS Emporium in the former Ole's/Builder's Emporium. TS recently closed their longtime Downtown LA location and relocating that store to Industry.

Rosemead is now a UFC gym. This first opened as Toys R Us.

West Covina Eastland - being renovated along with the former Circuit City and Mervyns buildings to house at least 4 retailers/restaurants.

luckysaver
Dean
Veteran
Posts: 738
Joined: 11 Jan 2007 23:27

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by Dean »

luckysaver wrote:San Gabriel Valley update:

City of Industry is being remodeled for chinese grocer Tak Shing Hong (aka TS Emporium). About 2.5 miles east on Nogales is TS Emporium in the former Ole's/Builder's Emporium. TS recently closed their longtime Downtown LA location and relocating that store to Industry.

Rosemead is now a UFC gym. This first opened as Toys R Us.

West Covina Eastland - being renovated along with the former Circuit City and Mervyns buildings to house at least 4 retailers/restaurants.

luckysaver
Are they closing the Nogales location...or will the Industry site be an additional?

Always thought it was creative/cost effective that they kept EMPORIUM from the BUILDER'S signage!
Jeff
Veteran
Posts: 940
Joined: 21 Nov 2005 21:44

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by Jeff »

They also have a very old and small location in Monterey Park on garvey.

I heard a rumor that the Levitz Eastland was supposed to be occiupied by a relocated Barnes and Noble.
luckysaver
Veteran
Posts: 295
Joined: 22 Feb 2007 17:10

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by luckysaver »

Nogales is very busy on the weekends. They won't close it. This location first opened in the Big Lots center before taking over Builder's Emporium.

There are 2 Garvey locations of TS - the small one is adjacent to True Value at Garfield, the other is slightly larger at Nicholson. Both locations are still open.

luckysaver
bobsjers
Contributor
Posts: 41
Joined: 27 Jun 2011 17:12
Contact:

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by bobsjers »

I remember the Levitz store in Fairfax Virginia. Shortly after their grand opening, it was hit by a tornado on April Fools day. Every single tube in its big neon sign was broken. I went to look at the damage, and with the parking lot lights laying on the ground and debris everywhere, someone drove up to me and asked what time they were going to open.
User avatar
MikeRa
Veteran
Posts: 148
Joined: 02 Mar 2008 20:55
Location: Bensalem, PA
Contact:

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by MikeRa »

The Levitz Furniture that was near me, on Lincoln Highway (AKA Business US Route 1), in Langhorne/Levittown, PA, is still vacant since the entire chain went under.
bobsjers
Contributor
Posts: 41
Joined: 27 Jun 2011 17:12
Contact:

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by bobsjers »

MikeRa wrote:The Levitz Furniture that was near me, on Lincoln Highway (AKA Business US Route 1), in Langhorne/Levittown, PA, is still vacant since the entire chain went under.
Is that the one in the shopping center with Home Depot, BJs, Petsmart, and Dick's? Or did they have two stores close together?
User avatar
MikeRa
Veteran
Posts: 148
Joined: 02 Mar 2008 20:55
Location: Bensalem, PA
Contact:

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by MikeRa »

bobsjers wrote:
MikeRa wrote:The Levitz Furniture that was near me, on Lincoln Highway (AKA Business US Route 1), in Langhorne/Levittown, PA, is still vacant since the entire chain went under.
Is that the one in the shopping center with Home Depot, BJs, Petsmart, and Dick's? Or did they have two stores close together?
The one I was referring to was the one that was next to Sam's Club and Kmart (the former Langhorne Speedway) on one side, and the Two Guys/Jefferson Ward/Bradlees/The Dump, on the other side.

The one that was in the shopping center with BJ's was a Sears Furniture store at first.
Ephrata1966
Veteran
Posts: 550
Joined: 29 Nov 2008 13:45

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by Ephrata1966 »

I just confirmed that the Levitz clearance store right on the Pennsylvania-Delaware border (Tri-State Mall, Claymont, DE) closed in 2005-2006 during the first round of Levitz closings, before the end of the chain. That surprises me because their signs stayed up for quite a while if they are not still there. What was weird about Jamesway was that they never took the signs off stores that closed exactly five years before the rest of the chain. And many of these were vacant for years to come. The Seaville and Lakewood NJ stores both on Route 9 were empty into the 2000s. I suspect the same people vandalized the signs at both of these. The Harleysville PA sign (and store) were in immaculate condition until a Thriftway grocery store moved in around 2002 or 2003.

Anyway, I could see the Claymont Levitz as competing head to head with the Raymour & Flanigan clearance store (was Hechinger) in Woodlyn. The Raymour & Flanigan in Wilmington was a Levitz and possibly Seaman's and possibly HomeLife. Raymour & Flanigan surprisingly has another clearance store in Wilmington which was a Service Merchandise. Storehouse furniture also had two generations of stores/logos in Wilmington, along with Tweeter electronics.

Levitz in Springfield opened around 2003 on the bottom floor of the old Klein building. What that was in between is a mystery to me. Levitz carved an entrance to a section I didn't even know existed when they opened. What was right inside their doors below their sign was an escalator. Burlington Coat Factory moved in about 6 months ago. For some reason their sign had to be taken down and re-hung before it opened. The Plymouth Meeting PA Seaman's Furniture (attached to a Target Greatland) started to convert to Levitz but closed instead. This store itself started as a HomeLife right after they were spun off from Sears. This orphaned company failed not long after. In 2006, this particular store became a "Rooms Today" furniture which already is now "American Signature" furniture. The Downingtown PA Levitz is a Christmas Tree Shops department store now.
Last edited by Ephrata1966 on 29 Jul 2011 14:43, edited 1 time in total.
bobsjers
Contributor
Posts: 41
Joined: 27 Jun 2011 17:12
Contact:

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by bobsjers »

Ephrata1966 wrote:. For some reason their sign had to be taken down and re-hung before it opened.
I noticed that too, and was wondering why. I am a vendor rep that goes to pet stores, so I was in the Petsmart watching the crew removing the letters.

It's amazing the changes in the shopping center the few years I have been going there. Seeing 3 stores go out of business, a couple of others moving within the same shopping center. Even the Dress Barn being carved out of a small nail salon and a piece of Old navy. Burlington Coat Factory coming in, a men's store coming in, and soon WalMart. I don't think the parking lot is going to be big enough, unless they use the rear one. But there is no easy way to get to the front, unless Walmart has a rear entrance too.
Ephrata1966
Veteran
Posts: 550
Joined: 29 Nov 2008 13:45

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by Ephrata1966 »

Your PetSmart was an OfficeMax from 1989 to 2006. It still feels like yesterday to me when it closed. That was when the center first started to die the second time, so PetSmart moved in really quick. Not sure but I suspect either this or the Old Navy started as either Woolworth or Grants.

I was worried Burlington was cancelling the store. Marshalls did that when they were supposed to fix up a very old empty Acme in Wilmington (Merchants Square) at some point in the past 30 years. Surprisingly a Food Lion has opened in that long-empty but preserved center. If Marshalls could do that, it wouldn't surprise me if Burlington did. Both these chains seem to love dying malls and more urban shopping centers (especially old JCPenney stores). And a number of Burlington stores around here have crashed and burned. There was one in Havertown that opened in 1994 and closed in 2002. In 2005 they made it into an Applebee's and relocated PLCB Wine & Spirits of all things. I think even the old Caldor/Ames in Warminster became Burlington in 2002, but closed in 2005. And yet the Clifton Heights Burlington is still open and has BARELY changed since it was a Penn Fruit. That place is surrounded by a Pizza Hut from 1969 that has outlived so many others, one of the only "Putt-Putt" arcades for miles (built in 1972 and hasn't changed since the 80's), and a Modell's Sporting Goods that was a General Cinema theater from 1966 to 1986. Based on the decor the Modell's has now, I wonder if Target might have owned that chain at one time.
bobsjers
Contributor
Posts: 41
Joined: 27 Jun 2011 17:12
Contact:

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by bobsjers »

I guess we have sort of gotten away from Levitz Furniture. I believe Modells is a family owned company that has been around for over 100 years. There is a Target a few miles away in Springfield on Baltimore Pike. It has 2 floors, so it was obviously not built as a Target. Targets on the East Coast is a relatively new thing. I remember visiting Grand Rapids MI in the 1990's and wishing there were Tagets in the Philly area. They finally did come this way.
rich
Veteran
Posts: 673
Joined: 15 Nov 2005 20:51
Location: Washington, DC

Re: Levitz Furniture

Post by rich »

Target has many purpose-built 2 story locations. Some are in inner city areas like the DCUSA store in the Columbia Heights are of DC. Others re in suburban areas with limited available land like the Rockville store outside of DC and University Square near Cleveland.
Post Reply