By ELLYN COUVILLION
\nAdvocate business writer
\nMorris Butler Jr., 75, thought he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d continue working indefinitely in the furniture business his father started
\n
\n\t\t
\n more than six decades ago, but retirement finally beckoned.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I really hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had any plans to retire, thought I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d keep going forever,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Butler said.<\/p>\n
But with his younger brother, a certified public accountant, recently retired and enjoying life, Morris gave the thought of retiring a second look.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In August 1944, when Morris Butler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father opened the business, there were furniture stores on either side of his place, and another one down the street, Butler said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This was \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfurniture row\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 right here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have an old, loyal clientele that has stayed with us all these years, sustained us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
One elderly customer of his, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 89 years old, told Butler that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153everything in her house came from us.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve shopped there since \u00e2\u20ac\u212269, when his father was there \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I bought my first apartment furniture from him. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been doing business (there) since,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said longtime customer Flora Martin.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A lot of times, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even have to go to the store. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just call and tell him what I need,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I guess I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t buy any more furniture,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Martin, only half joking.<\/p>\n
Another longtime customer, Gertie Smith, said she remembered going to the Butler Furniture store when she was a little girl, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m 67.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My grandmother and my mother, that was their favorite store \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 my whole family, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s their store,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Basically, service is his thing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Cliff Lawrence, owner of Lawrence Furniture here, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been hired by Butler to manage his retirement sale.<\/p>\n
Also helping out is Chris Laureles, who owns Furniture For U.<\/p>\n
For several years, Butler Furniture had a second location in Baker, where Laureles grew up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By ELLYN COUVILLION Advocate business writer Morris Butler Jr., 75, thought he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d continue working indefinitely in the furniture business his father started<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-furniture-world-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}