Furniture Today,
NEW YORK — A New York City council member from Queens wants to regulate and license

furniture stores because of what she said is consumer fraud by some store owners.

The councilwoman, Helen Sears, is seeking passage of local legislation that would require the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs to issue licenses to all store owners, and give the department authority to revoke them if retailers broke contracts with customers. The licenses would cost stores $350.

According to the New York Sun, the action was spurred, in part, by some furniture stores accepting deposits or payments from customers but never delivering merchandise. In some instances, the stores shut down after orders were placed, the newspaper reported.

Barbara Goldstein, executive director of the Greater New York Home Furnishings Assn., a trade group, said that a few stores give the industry a bad name, and predicted the legislation wouldn’t pass.