Downtown furniture store closing
By DAN HEATH .Staff Writer
PLATTSBURGH — Kriff’s Furniture is going out of business after 67 years.
Owner Larry Kriff, in his early 50s, said he wants to embark on a different career before he’s too old.
“I’ve never done anything except the furniture business,” he said. “I have a strong desire to do something completely different. The timing is right.”
STARTED IN 1940
Kriff follows his grandfather, I.D. Kriff, who founded the company in Malone in 1940, and his father, Ralph, who joined shortly afterward and retired in 2001. An uncle, Herb, also worked in the business.
Kriff worked at the store in his spare time through high school and college. He entered the business full time in 1972 after he graduated from Ithaca College.
“Both of my children (Ben and Meg Kriff) have worked in the business. They have chosen other career paths,” Kriff said. “That (also) led to the decision to close.”
He thought about selling the business but felt marketing and selling the company might take too long.
Kriff’s Furniture offers a full line of sofas, beds, bedding and bedroom furniture, tables and chairs, entertainment centers, lamps and accessories. Product lines include Serta, Barcalounger, Clayton-Marcus, T.L. Bayne, Peters Revington, Sunset Trading, Fashion Bed, Best Home Furnishings, Home Elegance and more.
COMPETITION
Kriff said the furniture business has changed considerably, especially in the last four or five years. As the furniture industry grows and matures in the Far East, it has been able to further penetrate the U.S. market.
Less expensive labor and raw materials enable foreign companies to sell products with improving quality and lower prices compared to what’s made in the United States, Kriff said. People who used to buy a solid maple table for $1,500 now can see something that looks good for $600 to $700, he said.
“This furniture is not going to be passed down from generation to generation, like the old solid maple and cherry furniture.”
In light of all the other increased costs families are facing today, people aren’t buying furniture like that anymore, Kriff said.
EXPANSIONS
