By the end of 2004, Granite Furniture Co. will have half the number of stores and far fewer employees than it started the year with, but its vice president is hoping the 94-year-old company finds a way to survive.
Granite, founded in 1910, recently closed its Orem store at 55 E. University Parkway and plans to do the same by the end of the year at its Layton store at 1080 N. Main.
By then, the number of employees will have dwindled from 450 three years ago and nearly 200 now to perhaps 140, and the only remaining stores will be the flagship location at 1050 E. 2100 South in Sugar House and 1475 W. 9000 South, West Jordan.
"We've determined we're going to have to sell that (Layton) store to take care of our family issues and creditor issues," said Roger Richards, vice president of the company and grandson of founder Willard B. Richards Jr.
The company, which had several branches open during the 1920s mining boom and saw all but one close during World War II, has hit some hard times lately.
"Our retail business, especially since 9/11, to be honest, has struggled," Richards said. "Back then, it seemed like we were in a really tough time just prior to that, but everybody was coming out of it. Labor Day then was one of our best. Then 9/11 hit, and retail business just got really tough after that."
Richards said the company also will focus on "consolidation" of family ownership, which now reaches to the fourth generation.
"There's a lot of the family that has ownership. When a business hits the third generation, it becomes difficult. Now, there are very few actively involved in the business, yet ownership is spread out over the family and they have different interests. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but they're interested in different things right now," he said.
The company had stores in Provo and Sugar House from 1960 to 1986, but then doubled the size of the Provo store, opened the West Jordan store and moved from Provo to a larger shop in Orem. "We probably expanded a little too fast, because we didn't have the cash flow to buy the inventory needed to maintain those four stores," he said.
As for creditors, "the only thing I really want to say is that in the next 30 days we should have all creditors current," Richards said.
The three remaining stores have been closed since June 21 in order to do an inventory and bring in more items for a sale that will start sometime next week and be promoted through November.
"We've partnered with a company and we're going to bring in $6 million to $8 million worth of new inventory and run a pretty big sale here," he said. "There will be different looks from what we've had, with good specials and good values out there."
And by year-end, the company will assess its future.
"Right now, our intent is to go forward with the two stores," Richards said. "We think we still have a lot to offer the consumer on the Wasatch Front. If things go well, we plan to continue to grow the company again, but we'll probably proceed a little slower."
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com