SILER CITY — The irony of a furniture store becoming homeless isn’t lost on Tim Cunnup.
But the reality for Cunnup and his wife, Camille — the owners of H&B Furniture Legacy in downtown Siler City — is that after just over two years of operation from their 28,000-sq.-ft. showroom on Third Street, when the building you’re renting is sold to a buyer who will occupy it for his own business, the phrase “out on the street” becomes sadly apropos.
Cunnup, in fact, has beat the streets of Siler City and Pittsboro and elsewhere in Chatham County the last few weeks, looking for a new home for H&B Furniture Legacy
“When I found out the building was being sold, I immediately started looking for a new space to move to — which I thought would be possible,” Cunnup said last Friday morning as customers began to fill H&B’s showroom. “Unfortunately, in Chatham County, there are very limited spaces that are above 20,000 square feet.”
The few available spaces he considered in Chatham and neighboring Lee County were either too small or carried rental prices that were too steep for a furniture retailer in a highly competitive market. As a result, H&B must vacate the building by year’s end, making way for a new Raleigh-based owner — whose business, a commercial cleaning equipment distributor, will occupy the space.
To facilitate the movement of more than $300,000 worth of furniture inventory, H&B is selling everything on the showroom floor at prices 50 to 75 percent below retail. When the inventory — which includes the business’ office furniture and display items — are gone, or Dec. 31 arrives, if that comes first, H&B will cease to exist.
The store’s eight employees, including the Cunnups’ daughter, Katlyn, will be seeking new jobs, and Siler City will lose one of its few remaining large, visible locally-owned retailers.
“Of course we’re very disappointed,” Cunnup said. “Camille and I had purchased this business in hopes that we would be here until our retirement. It was such a privilege for us to be able to carry on what Mr. (Harold) Hart [the “H” in the former H&B Furniture] had started. And the fact that we had a store that was unlike any other around, with furniture for everybody. It’s a real disappointment for us at this point to have to shut the doors and leave the city because we feel like we did add value to Siler City, and to Chatham County.”
Cunnup was alerted by the building’s owner — descendants of the late Harold — of the pending sale back in September, and in that time, he says he’s “accepted the inevitability of this.”
“The only thing we can do is liquidate the move on,” he said. “We’re very sad, to be honest. Almost everybody I’ve talked to has said, ‘Oh my goodness, I hate that we’re losing this store — there’s not another one around like it.’ Overall it’s been a response of concern not only for us, but that the community is losing a good store.”
Small “mom ‘n pop” stores, Cunnup said, “are going by the wayside. I’m sad to see that.”
For the time being, though, Cunnup is focused on moving H&B’s inventory, which has focused on higher-quality furniture product lines from manufacturers including Bassett, Kincaid, Flexsteel and Craftmaster,
“Anybody who’s looking for furniture right now, quality furniture, you will never find it at a price this low anywhere,” he said.
When H&B closes its doors, Cunnup — who’s running unopposed for another term as Goldston’s mayor this election cycle — will figure out his next career move. He has more than two decades of real estate sales experience and owns a number of rental properties himself, and said he might consider re-opening the sign and t-shirt company he and Camille operated prior to the opening of H&B Legacy Furniture.
In the meantime, town leaders are mourning the loss.
“H&B Furniture Legacy came into our community, and we were glad to welcome them,” said Mayor John Grimes. “They filled an existing building on Third Street, provided employment within our community, and offered quality products. We are sad to see them go, but we understand that a new enterprise will be coming to this same location.”
Jackie Adams, a downtown business owner who heads up the Siler City Merchants Association, said every small town and its businesses face unique challenges. But the loss of H&B will be particularly painful.
“The Cunnups built relationships on quality and honesty with their suppliers, manufactures, and customers,” said Adams, who is also a candidate for mayor. “That is of value when your goal is attracting outside customers to a destination location.”
It’s a great loss, she said, when “a wonderful family business closes its doors.”
“A loss to our town’s prosperity, a loss to our community,” she said.