Art Van Furniture

Art Van Furniture store, Ann Arbor, MI, one of the 30 Michigan stores as shown in 2010

Archie "Art" Van Elslander founded Art Van in 1959, opening his first store in East Detroit.[3] Van Elslander's furniture first business was a 4,000 square-foot space on Gratiot Avenue and 10 Mile Road. He expanded to three stores in that same year, and a fourth store opened in 1960. His first employee was not hired until this time.[4] Art Vans Furniture (later changed to Art Van Furniture) opened with mostly modern and Danish-style furniture.[5]

By 1963, Van Elslander owned seven stores and had taken on some partners, including his brother, Bob Van Elslander, Don Fox and Bob McEachin.[6] The following year, three of those stores were sold off, however Van Elslander expanded the chain in the 1970s and in 1973 the company purchased its headquarters in Warren, Michigan. Around that time, the company had fifteen stores in its chain. In the late 1970s opened several warehouses and a corporate training department. In 1977, the company opened stores outside of the Detroit area, in Flint, Michigan and Lansing, Michigan.[7]

In 1980, the company issued its first credit card and in 1985 the company introduced clearance centers attached to many of the stores offering overstocked merchandise. In 2009, the company's half-centennial, Art Van Furniture was named furniture retailer of the year by Furniture Today magazine.[8] In 2013, the company made a $50 million investment in the state of Illinois to open a sequence of new establishments in the state.[9] The last CEO of the company was Gary Fazio.[10] In March 2017, the company was purchased by Thomas H. Lee Partners (THL), a private equity firm based in Boston.[11]

On March 5, 2020, the company announced that it would be closing all of its company-owned stores and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy four days later.[12][13] The stores were forced to close early due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. After the closure, THL initially reneged on its promise of severance pay, which led to former employees taking action and lobbying THL investors to force it to create a 'Hardship Fund' for former employees.[14]

In May 2020, Love's Furniture & Mattress assumed control of many of the former locations.[15] However, soon after Love's filed for bankruptcy in December 2020 and began liquidation sales at all stores. All stores were closed in 3 phases with 2 of them occurring in May and the last one that closed them all on Sunday, June 27th, 2021 officially marking the end of era for Art Van and Love's Furniture & Mattress.[16]

At its peak, the company operated 141 stores located in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri and a full service e-commerce website, with an additional 45 freestanding Art Van PureSleep bedding stores.[17] The company also had franchised stores located in the Midwest.[18] In all, the company had nearly 200 stores.[19] Art Van had partnered with Paul's TV to open a section for Paul's TV to sell televisions inside Art Van stores. Eighteen locations were opened, however all were closed down by 2015.[20] Other boutique sections have included AV Flooring, and Art Van Furniture operated three Scott Shuptrine interior design studios in the state of Michigan.[21] Art Van also produced a mail catalog of its furniture offerings.[22]

In 2015, the company paid out $2.5 million dollars in free furniture to 3000 customers after a promotion that gave away the purchases of customers if it snowed three inches each in the cities of Toledo, Fort Wayne, and Chicago.[23][24] In 2016, Art Van replaced its regional Super Bowl advertisements in the Detroit and Grand Rapids areas with a thank you message for donors of water to Flint, Michigan, which the company had solicited through its charitable programs.[25][26]

• History of Art Van Incorporated
• Art Van Furniture is No Couch Potato