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Chicago-based The RoomPlace announced Friday that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and close its six Indianapolis-area locations plus stores in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Peoria, Illinois.
The restructuring plan will allow the business to refocus its efforts on strengthening its 18 Chicagoland stores, a news release stated.
“As a family-run business with strong community ties, it’s not an easy decision to close stores and impact the people who work, shop and live in the affected communities,” The RoomPlace CEO Bruce Berman said in a media release. “Retail sales throughout the country continue to be down, and our industry has been hit hard. We’re making the tough decisions now to ensure we’re around for another 100 years.”
Berman said the bankruptcy is not the end but rather a new beginning for Chicagoland.
“What was once viewed as taboo is now a strategic way to realign and strengthen a business,” he said in written comments.
As part of the wind down in Indianapolis, Kenosha and Peoria, The RoomPlace will contract with Planned Furniture Promotions to conduct store closing sales in those locations. Existing orders placed prior to Feb. 2 will be fulfilled as promised, the company said.
The affected area stores are at 5651 E. 86th St., 7609 Shelby St., 8401 Michigan Road, and 8301 E. Washington St. in Indianapolis; at 14640 Greyhound Plaza in Carmel; and at 2575 E. Main St., Suite 198, in Plainfield.
There is not a firm closing date yet, a spokesperson said. The RoomPlace will be operating “business as usual in all locations for the next few weeks,” she said. “Eventually, store operations will be transferred to a furniture promotions company that will run store closing sales.”
The RoomPlace’s property on East Washington Street was formerly occupied by furniture retailer Levitz Furniture, which closed in 1999 after more than 20 years in operation at the site. The RoomPlace acquired the 11-acre site and its 160,000-square-foot showroom and warehouse for $2 million from the Eskenazi Health Foundation in 2016 and renovated the facility. It opened it in 2017 with a 70,000-square-foot store (the chain’s largest), a 16,000-square-foot clearance center and a 100,000-square-foot distribution center.
The RoomPlace, which got its start in 1912 and was known as Harlem Furniture for decades, entered the Indianapolis market in 2008.
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