Ethan Allen furnishings store closing

by David Reed

February 1,2008

            The
Ethan
Allen
Design
Center at

in
Columbia is expected to close on March 15, Ethan Allen's director of public relations told CBT on Friday.

            All customer orders will be delivered and serviced in the ordinary course of business, spokeswoman Peg Lupton said. The store has nine employees.

            Ethan Allen sells furniture products and decorative accessories through a network of 305 design centers in the
United States and abroad, of which 160 are corporate owned, including the Columbia store.

            "As we have been evaluating the size of design centers that is appropriate in markets the size of
Columbia, Missouri, we have come to the conclusion that smaller sizes are more appropriate," Lupton said in an e-mail. "We are currently planning to open smaller ‘Design Studios’ in markets of similar size as Columbia, and will be evaluating whether that solution may be appropriate for the
Columbia market.  

The company reported last week that Ethan Allen design center sales in the last six months of 2007 were basically even with the last six months of 2008.