By ALBERT McKEON, Telegraph Staff
Looking for a dog-themed pool cue rack? Need a


plastic maitre d’ outfitted with a chalkboard menu? Now is the time to look for bargains as the Furniture World chain liquidates its assets. The retail company announced last week it was closing the doors of its five stores, including one on Daniel Webster Highway in Nashua.

Consumers need not despair about where their next couch or dining room table will come from once the store closes. In Nashua alone, at least 14 other stores will continue to sell furniture.

“It’s unfortunate when any retailer goes out of business, especially a New Hampshire-based business,” said Nancy Kyle, president of the Retail Merchants Association of New Hampshire. “But that’s part of the market economy. It’s not part of any trend.”

Furniture World owner Mark Bedrick couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Bedrick recently sold his five-store Mattress World chain to Mattress Discounters Corp. out of Maryland.

Bedrick bought the store at 168 Daniel Webster Highway in 2001 for $6 million. It was previously the Levitz Furniture store.

Furniture World has stores in Nashua, Manchester, Salem and Windham, and a sister store in Salem called Leather Expressions.

Bright red signs plaster the windows of the Nashua store, announcing that it would soon be closed “forever.” Most couches, beds, tables, armoires and desks had markdown tags.

It’s now up to customers to roll the dice. Wait a few weeks, and prices will continue to drop. But wait too long, and the furniture will be gone.

“The last couple of times I came in, the prices were not better than when I bought my sofa,” Nashua resident Diane Perron said of her purchase five years ago.

She entered the store Friday afternoon hoping to score some end tables to complement the sofa.

Perron said she wouldn’t miss Furniture World. She prefers two other stores on Daniel Webster Highway: Jordan’s, and Bernie and Phyl’s.

Furniture World might have been done in by all that competition down the block, but “ultimately it’s the consumer that benefits with increased choice,” Kyle said.

Perron left the store empty handed. She might be back. “The prices have come down,” she said.

Maybe by her next visit the mostly plastic pool cue rack with three dogs will have dropped from its $1,795 asking price.

Albert McKeon can be reached at 594-5832 or amckeon@nashuatelegraph.com.