Furniture stores are filling a retail void in Dayton, Ohio, as landlords at five different properties have signed up local and national furniture chains to take over spaces once occupied by department and toy stores.
Within the span of a few months, five new furniture stores will open across the Dayton market, replacing Elder-Beerman, Sears and Toys “R” Us stores that have shuttered due to bankruptcy filings over the past 18 months.
A Big Sandy Superstore opened Nov. 1 in the former Elder-Beerman store in Miami Township, while Furniture Fair opened its second Dayton-area store in the former Beavercreek Toys R Us.
Meanwhile Bob’s Discount Furniture will open early next year in the former Miamisburg Toys R Us and The Room Place is expected to open a store at the Mall at Fairfield Commons and another at the Dayton Mall in coming months.
“People do spend a lot of time online looking for ideas, but we find that they want to come into a retail store and feel it, touch it see it and get some advice from a professional who can help them make the right choices,” Rob Klaben, vice president of local Morris Furniture Company, told the Dayton Daily News.
“Dayton itself is seeing some improvement in the economy where if I look back 20 years, like the year 2000..we expanded into Cincinnati and Columbus because their economies were more stable.”
By Brannon Boswell
Executive Editor, Commerce + Communities Today
