By Chuck Myron
Time is running out for a North Fort Myers furniture store.


The final day for business will be Saturday, Dec. 16 at Furniture in the Buff in the Hancock Square shopping center on Hancock Bridge Parkway. The owners of the 15-year-old shop said a series of break-ins and vandalism has forced them out.

Four burglaries and an act of vandalism spurred owners Rick and Valerie Dunn to decide in August to close the North Fort Myers store and concentrate on their Arbor House furniture gallery in south Fort Myers.

The Dunns were hit again after they made their decision, when the license plate was removed from the store’s delivery truck while it sat parked by the store.

“I’m just throwing my arms up and saying ‘What else?’” Valerie Dunn said.

The incidents are under investigation by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

The lease on the 4,000-square-foot space is up Dec. 31, and Valerie Dunn said she chose Dec. 16 as the final day so she could spend time with her family over the holidays. She said she’s sold about half of the store’s inventory and will haul the rest to Arbor House.

“To transfer everything down there, it will be a couple grand,” she said.

She estimates they’re losing about 40 to 60 percent of the customer base by making the move.

“It’s a risk, but I have no choice,” she said.

Ann Sherwood-Palmer, who took over Tracy’s Flower Shop about a year ago in the same commercial plaza, said the store hasn’t been hit by crime lately and believes the area is a good place to do business.

“It’s a hot spot,” she said. “We’re very well situated to serve the north part of the Cape. That’s more business-to-business opportunities and business-to-public opportunities.”

Pam Burgess, who opened Petite Repeat Pre-Loved Children’s Clothes and More this month next door to Furniture in the Buff, wasn’t concerned about her neighbor’s decision to leave and believes a new store will take its place soon.

“They do pull a lot of business in here but I don’t think it’s going to hurt us too bad,” she said. “This is a very busy shopping center.”