YOUR AD HERE »

Glenwood Springs’ American Furniture Warehouse location closing in six weeks after 25 years in business

American Furniture Warehouse located in south Glenwood near Wal-Mart is set to close in June.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent

After 25 years in operation, American Furniture Warehouse’s Glenwood Springs location will permanently close in approximately six weeks, company CEO Jake Jabs told the Post Independent Friday.

“It’s basically been an underperforming store for us,” Jabs said. “We are opening stores in Houston and Arizona and places like that and so as a business person we are looking at stores that make money.

“That store really hasn’t been making any money for us,” he said of the Glenwood location.

Jabs explained that the company had done everything it could to keep the local store in business, but ultimately decided to sell the building and will shut down in roughly six weeks following a 10 percent off sale.

“I have [a] soft spot in my heart for Glenwood and that store,” Jabs said. “I love Glenwood and it’s a great market, but basically it’s just underperforming and I think we’ve done everything we could do to crack that.”

According to Jabs, American Furniture’s Glenwood location employs roughly 20 people, all of whom were notified. Those employees have the option of remaining with the company, he said, but would need to move to a different store.

“There will be no layoffs. We can transfer them to either Grand Junction or … we have 12 stores here on the Front Range we can put them with, too,” Jabs said.

“I think that is probably one reason that the store in Glenwood hasn’t done as well, because of our nice store in Grand Junction,” Jabs added.

Jabs would not disclose who the building, located at 3200 S Glen Ave. in the Roaring Fork Marketplace, was sold to, as “caveats” were still being worked out.

“We do have to be out,” Jabs explained of the forthcoming deadline.

Jabs said that Glenwood’s American Furniture Warehouse was one of the first stores he opened with the company.

“I am sad to see a long-standing business leave the area,” Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association President & CEO Angie Anderson said on Friday.

According to Anderson, American Furniture Warehouse was also a long-standing member with the Chamber Resort Association. “We are sad to see them go.”

The news of American Furniture Warehouse closing its Glenwood location comes not long after Safeway announced that it, too, would be leaving the Glenwood Springs market.

American Furniture Warehouse was founded in 1975 by Jabs after he bought American Furniture Company in Denver. Following a name change and several additional store openings, today American Furniture Warehouse, including its Glenwood store, has 14 locations throughout Colorado and Arizona.

mabennett@postindependent.com


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.