After nearly 70 years of helping New Englanders pick out sofas and sideboards, Acton-based Circle Furniture is down to its final act: selling off what is left. The regional retailer, which abruptly shut its doors over the holidays, is liquidating hundreds of showroom and warehouse pieces through a series of online auctions this spring. A Boston area auction house is handling the sales, which include everything from sectionals and dining sets to artwork, lighting and store decor. Circle closed its eight locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in late December and then filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy at the end of January.
Auction schedule and what’s for sale
Paul E. Saperstein Co. Auctioneers & Appraisers is running nine separate online sales that cover each retail showroom plus the company’s Acton warehouse, with timed bidding rolling out from mid March through late April. Each catalog is loaded with photos and item-by-item listings for living room sets, dining rooms, bedroom groups, rugs, chandeliers, staging artwork and more, and several locations already have live bidding underway.
If you are scouting specific stores or dates, Boston.com has a location-by-location rundown and auction schedule.
Bankruptcy filings and scale of the shortfall
In its Chapter 7 filing at the end of January, Circle Furniture reported roughly $2.2 million in assets against nearly $14 million in liabilities, leaving a steep gap that puts unsecured creditors, including customers and small vendors, at risk of collecting only a fraction of what they are owed. The sudden December shutdown also resulted in about 65 layoffs and left hundreds of customers with deposits on furniture that never arrived. Those details were reported by The Boston Globe.
What the trustee says customers can expect
Court-appointed Chapter 7 trustee Joseph Baldiga told local reporters that customers who paid in full for items that were still in inventory were offered the chance to pick them up. Customers who paid by credit card but could not find their orders in the remaining stock were advised to seek chargebacks through their card issuers. Baldiga also said that consigned items and other property identified before the auctions began were returned to their owners when possible. Those comments were reported by WCVB.
How buyers should prepare
Anyone eyeing a deal will need to go in with eyes open. The auction listings spell out that all items are sold “as is, where is,” with no guarantees, and that purchases are subject to an 18% buyer premium, with a lower rate available for cash or certified funds. Each sale also has strict windows for inspection and pickup.
Prospective bidders can preview inventories the day before each auction, register on the online platform and line up movers or a truck for the posted removal days. Full terms, buyer-premium details and inspection schedules are posted in the catalogs hosted by BidSpotter.
Local fallout and next steps
Founded in 1952 and sold to Robert and Paula Richard in 2022, Circle Furniture had recently pushed into Boston’s Seaport, Portsmouth and Cape Cod before the collapse, according to prior reporting. With the case proceeding as a Chapter 7 liquidation, unsecured creditors, including customers and small vendors, face long odds of being made whole, and several former employees have filed wage complaints with the attorney general’s office.
The bankruptcy case, No. 26-40097, is on file in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston, according to court listings. The Boston Globe and BK Alerts provide additional case details.
