Future of Furnishings 2000 Questioned as Doors Close

Furnishings 2000, which filed for federal bankruptcy protection in New York City, evidently has closed its 37 stores in California, according to state officials who on Tuesday were trying to determine if the furniture stores would reopen. Furnishings 2000, which was founded in San Diego in 1983, operates four stores in San Diego County.

Furnishings 2000 executives were not available for comment Tuesday. Dan Shaia, an employee of GF Holdings, the New York-based company that owns 67% of Furnishing 2000’s stock, acknowledged only that, on Tuesday, “they were closed.” When asked if the stores would remain closed, Shaia said that he “couldn’t answer that.”

Shaia directed customers with complaints to Dan Morris, an executive at an Illinois firm who recently was hired to serve as Furnishing 2000’s chief executive officer. However, Ernie Chard, an official with the state’s Sacramento-based Department of Consumer Affairs, said that the Illinois executive was directing consumers to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York City, where Furnishings 2000 made its voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Friday.

“What (Morris) told us was that customers would be contacted by . . . an official of the court,” Chard said. “But (Morris’ firm was) noncommittal as to whether the store would reopen.” The consumer affairs department will “try and confirm all of that in the morning” with the New York bankruptcy court, Chard said.

The consumer affairs department has received at least 40 complaints from consumers around the state who have been unable to contact Furnishing 2000 representatives, Chard said. The company has not explained its predicament to consumers, Chard said. “I haven’t heard of any (stores) that have given any helpful information” to consumers Chard said.