Levitz Furniture was a nationwide chain of American furniture stores that helped create the "furniture warehouse" genre of retail furniture sales. Chain stores are Retail outlets that share a Brand and central management and usually have standardized business methods and practices Furniture is the Mass noun for the movable objects which may support the human body (seating furniture and beds, provide storage or hold objects on horizontal It was in business for nearly 100 years before liquidating in bankruptcy in early 2008. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their Creditors Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against

History

Growth

The company was founded in Lebanon, Pennsylvania in 1910 by Richard Levitz. Lebanon Pennsylvania, formerly known as Steitztown is the County seat of Lebanon County Pennsylvania, United States. ^[1]

In the 1960s Levitz successfully pioneered selling moderately-priced brand name furniture from a warehouse-style store. A warehouse is a commercial Building for Storage of Goods. Warehouses are used by Manufacturers Importers Exporters ^[2] It suffered in the 1990s as consumers began to prefer showroom sales that featured spaces arranged to look like actual rooms in houses. The word showroom has two distinct meanings including Marketing location A showroom is a large space used to display products for sale such as automobiles, ^[3]

Marketing

The store is known for one of the most catchy slogans and jingles in the retail industry, "You'll love it at Levitz. A slogan is a memorable Motto or Phrase used in a Political, commercial, Religious and other context as a repetitive expression of A jingle is a memorable Slogan, set to an engaging Melody, mainly broadcast on Radio and sometimes on Television commercials. "^[2]

Demise

Levitz Furniture store during liquidation sale, December, 2007

The company is accused of having being poorly run for more than a decade. It declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy twice during the period, in 1997 and again in 2005, both times emerging after a corporate restructuring and the participation of new outside backers. Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the Bankruptcy laws of the United States Restructuring is the Corporate management term for the act of partially dismantling or otherwise reorganizing a company for the purpose of making it more profitable ^[3] The furniture market underwent a prolonged nationwide downturn after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and was hurt again in late 2007 by the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis. The subprime mortgage crisis is an ongoing financial crisis characterized by contracted Liquidity in global credit markets and Banking ^[4] Levitz filed for bankruptcy a final time in October, 2007. ^[1] As of that time it was operating nearly 80 stores, mostly in the Northeastern United States and on the West Coast,^[5] under the corporation PLVTZ LLC. The Northeast is a region of the United States. As defined by the U The " West Coast " " Western Seaboard " or " Pacific Seaboard " are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the Western United States

The company was sold in bankruptcy to a group of bidders lead by Hilco Merchant Resources,^[3] that began to rapidly liquidate its inventory and close all remaining stores. ^[5]

References

External links

• Levitz.com - official website