Fowler’s Fine Furniture is closing its remaining store in Excelsior Springs, ending a family furniture business that traces its roots back 39 years. The company must vacate its premises before the end of 2026, and a liquidation sale began Thursday, October 15, 2026, at its 156 Crown Hill Road location. No exact closing date has been set, and the shutdown will affect four full-time and three part-time employees.
Owner Isaiah Fowler said the timing comes down to the lease, according to Excelsior Citizen, which reported that the lease’s expiration determined when the store would shut its doors. The outlet also reported that economic challenges contributed to the decision. Fowler said he hopes to sell off the remaining inventory and close before the required move-out deadline.
A Business Rooted in 1987, Reshaped Over Decades
According to the company’s own account on fowlersfinefurniture.com, the business traces its modern history to 1987 and says it has served Richmond and the surrounding area ever since. Louis and Susan Eagan passed the business to Isaiah and Susan Fowler in 2018, and the Fowler family kept the operation running until this year. The Excelsior Springs location — the one now closing — opened in 2022, per the company’s website.
Fowler’s Fine Furniture has offered furniture, mattresses and home accessories to Clay and Ray counties and surrounding communities, the Excelsior Citizen reported. The company closed its Richmond store in May and shuttered an Odessa location in 2025, leaving Excelsior Springs as its last storefront before this latest announcement.
What Happens to Orders, Warranties and Gift Cards
Customers with existing orders don’t need to worry about getting left empty-handed — remaining orders are expected to arrive well before the store closes, the Excelsior Citizen reported. Manufacturer and third-party warranties will also remain in effect through their respective providers even after the Excelsior Springs doors shut for good. The outlet’s report notes that gift cards will continue to be accepted throughout the liquidation process, and customers can still purchase third-party warranty coverage during the sale itself.
The liquidation sale, which kicked off this week, features discounts on furniture, mattress sets and accessories as the company works to clear its remaining stock. Fowler has invited customers to stop by during these final weeks to say goodbye, framing the closure as the end of a relationship built over decades rather than just a transaction. He said the business finished the way it started — as family — and that those relationships extend beyond the store’s closure.
Part of a Rough Year for Furniture Retailers Nationwide
Fowler’s isn’t an isolated case. Furniture Today reported that 17 home-furnishings retailers revealed plans to close or finalized earlier decisions in the first three months of 2026 alone, with ownership retirement cited as the chief reason for many of those closures — among them McKinstry’s Home Furnishings in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, after 168 years, and Unclaimed Freight in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, after more than 50 years. The trade publication later reported that five of 12 furniture-store closings tracked in the third quarter were tied to owner retirements, including Johnson Furniture in New Braunfels, Texas, and Baker’s Main Street Furniture in Garland, Texas, a three-generation operation whose owner, David Baker, was retiring.```Other closures that quarter, like Eddie’s Furniture Co. in Holyoke, Massachusetts, were attributed to weakening economic conditions and declining business rather than retirement.
Broader market pressures have been weighing on the industry too. The New York Times reported that annual furniture-store sales are down about 8 percent since 2022, as high mortgage rates and home prices have frozen housing-market activity that normally drives furniture purchases. The same report described the industry as increasingly competitive, with one analyst calling it a “sink-or-swim environment” amid near record-low housing turnover. Circle Furniture, a family business that served the Boston area, closed all nine of its stores and filed for bankruptcy after its sales fell 20 percent, according to the Times.
For now, Fowler’s Fine Furniture is focused on winding down in Excelsior Springs rather than following any of those businesses into bankruptcy. Isaiah Fowler expressed gratitude to customers and to the families the business has supported over the years, and said the company’s commitment to integrity in the community continues even as the storefront prepares to go dark.
