Furniture Gallery will open at former Havertys in Abilene

"We had an opportunity to consolidate," said Joe Pierce, owner of the local Gallery Furniture chain. "That was really my purpose from the start."

The chain is set to close one of its other Abilene locations, Gallery Plus, on Saturday, Pierce said. Television commercials in recent weeks have touted the impending closure of the store, on South Clack Drive.

Pierce said the approximately 45,000-square-foot former Havertys building will include warehouse and office operations for his company, Pierce Furniture, which will continue to keep open a total of three stores in Abilene. The company also has stores in Sweetwater, Snyder, Big Spring, San Angelo, Early and Lubbock.

Paul Johnson & Associates, a commercial real estate agency in Abilene, facilitated the sale of the former Havertys building, Johnson told the Reporter-News in March. He said the Massachusetts-based property owners agreed to sell the building for $1.5 million to the Pierce Furniture Co..

Pierce said another Gallery Furniture store on South Danville Drive will remain open, selling mostly children's furniture, more rustic furnishings as well as some clearance items.

"The two stores won't really overlap," Pierce said, but "they'll kind of tie together." Also staying open will be the chain's outlet store on Butternut Street, where some slightly damaged items will be sold along with other value items for $499 or less, Pierce said.

"In the last few years, customers want value," Pierce said, although he added, "that doesn't mean they want cheap furniture."

In addition to the closing of the Havertys store last year, Abilene also has seen in recent months the closure of Lacks on Buffalo Gap Road and the abrupt closing of Ashley Furniture HomeStore on Southwest Drive.

An online real estate listing for the Lacks property shows it for sale at an asking price of $1.85 million. Attempts to reach the owners of the Ashley Furniture HomeStore property, Arizona-based Spirit Finance, were unsuccessful Tuesday.

Abilene's Ashley Furniture HomeStore was operated by San Angelo-based Lanford and Bratton Holdings LP, which angered customers by closing without notice and leaving many customers who had paid for their furniture uncertain if they would receive it.

The San Angelo company also ran Ashley stores in Wichita Falls and San Angelo, which similarly closed.

Deliveries weren't made until several weeks after the abrupt closure in November, and it isn't clear if customers who made partial payments have received refunds.

Although an unrelated business owner has reopened an Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Wichita Falls, representatives for that group could not be reached Tuesday.