By ELLYN COUVILLION
Advocate business writer
Morris Butler Jr., 75, thought he’d continue working indefinitely in the furniture business his father started


more than six decades ago, but retirement finally beckoned.

“I really hadn’t had any plans to retire, thought I’d keep going forever,” Butler said.

But with his younger brother, a certified public accountant, recently retired and enjoying life, Morris gave the thought of retiring a second look.

When Butler Furniture at 626 Main St. closes this month, after almost 63 years of business, it will be the end of a once-vibrant Main Street furniture market.

In August 1944, when Morris Butler’s father opened the business, there were furniture stores on either side of his place, and another one down the street, Butler said.

“This was ‘furniture row’ right here,” he said.

Over the decades, as the other furniture stores closed, Butler Furniture stayed, with the oil industry bust of the 1980s being its biggest challenge, Morris said.

“We have an old, loyal clientele that has stayed with us all these years, sustained us,” he said.

One elderly customer of his, who’s 89 years old, told Butler that “everything in her house came from us.”

“I’ve shopped there since ’69, when his father was there — I bought my first apartment furniture from him. I’ve been doing business (there) since,” said longtime customer Flora Martin.

“A lot of times, I don’t even have to go to the store. I’ll just call and tell him what I need,” she said.

“I guess I won’t buy any more furniture,” said Martin, only half joking.

Another longtime customer, Gertie Smith, said she remembered going to the Butler Furniture store when she was a little girl, “and I’m 67.”

“My grandmother and my mother, that was their favorite store … my whole family, that’s their store,” Smith said.

“Basically, service is his thing,” said Cliff Lawrence, owner of Lawrence Furniture here, who’s been hired by Butler to manage his retirement sale.

Also helping out is Chris Laureles, who owns Furniture For U.

For several years, Butler Furniture had a second location in Baker, where Laureles grew up.