By HUEY FREEMAN – H&R Staff Writer
HARRISTOWN – The large, sprawling store is still stocked with plenty of handcrafted oak tables, desks, bookcases and entertainment centers.


The atmosphere is still remarkably upbeat, although the retail business that has helped sustain Lu Beeson and her employees for nearly two decades will close its doors when all this furniture is gone.

“We had a good run,” Beeson said, while taking a break from checking out customers on a busy Saturday. “It’s time to close out.”

Beeson and her husband, Paul, opened The Harristown Depot in the former interurban train station in 1988. Paul Beeson, a skilled woodworker, later built two additions to create more showrooms for the store. He died of cancer in 1998.

Since announcing the closing of the store, Beeson said the paying customers have increased tremendously. The furniture, made in Ohio by Amish craftsmen, is marked down 20 percent, while other gift items are reduced by 40 percent.

The store might stay open into October, but it could close earlier if the customers keep up the pace.

“The stuff is going faster than what I thought,” Beeson said.

Beeson and store employees cite several factors that led to the store’s demise: a depressed local economy due to factory closings, competition from cheap imported furniture, high gas prices and inflation.

“Imports are killing us,” said Sandy Dunlevy, who has worked at the store for 11 years.

Dunlevy said the store has been a great place to work, with a friendly atmosphere.

Her friend, Sherry Templeton, a 9-year store employee, said, “It’s a good job, good working environment. We all get along.”

Templeton said she plans to draw unemployment compensation after the store closes, while searching for another job. Dunlevy, who also has been working for Beeson on the wholesale side of the business said she might be able to continue in that capacity.

Beeson said she has been buying furniture wholesale in Ohio and shipping it to many scattered stores, including some in Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and Michigan. She is not certain how long the wholesale end of the business will continue.

It is remarkable that the retail store, which has six full-time employees, has survived this long, especially because it is well hidden in downtown Harristown.

“People in Decatur don’t know there’s a downtown Harristown,” Dunlevy said. “There are people who have lived there 50 years and don’t know we’re here.”

She said most of the customers have been older folks, who can afford well-made furniture, while younger people tend to buy the cheaper imports.

“We call it disposable furniture,” she said, taking a swipe at the Asian-made pieces that dominate the market.

Beeson said she refuses to carry imported furniture.

“I think everyone should buy American-made myself,” she said.

A large For Sale sign stands in front of the historic building, once a stop for interurban commuters traveling to Decatur, Danville, Champaign or St. Louis. A restored sleeping car stands near the building. The electric interurban railway service, which began about 1901, ceased in 1955.

Beeson said she believes the Harristown station is the only one of all the former interurban stops that currently is occupied. Her husband restored the depot, replacing the red tile roof and laying an oak floor salvaged from a box car.

Jennifer Moss of Monticello was at the store Saturday, with her husband and two daughters. A former Harristown resident, she said she had been shopping there since it first opened. She had purchased a roll-top desk and bedroom set in the past and added a sofa table on Saturday.

“What we’ve bought here we’ve really enjoyed,” Moss said.

Beeson said she will mainly miss here customers, many of whom she regards as friends. She strived to create a family atmosphere, in which employees could bring their children and grandchildren stop by to visit.

Customers tell her they will be sad to see the store close.

“There are so many I’ve become close to,” she said.

Beeson said she has enjoyed contributing to community causes.

“I’ll miss helping people out,” she said.