Hurwitz Mintz Furniture is winding down operations at its Metairie showroom, where remaining floor inventory is being sold. The retailer has changed its store hours, and notices say purchases are final, with no returns or exceptions.
According to NOLA.com, the closure announcement landed this week, marking the end of an era for a name long tied to Metairie's Airline Drive corridor. The company's own website confirms the news in blunt terms: “Hurwitz Mintz is closing its doors, and our hours of operation have changed,” according to a notice posted on hurwitzmintz.com. That same notice spells out the terms for anyone hoping to grab a deal before the lights go out: “ALL SALES ARE FINAL AND SOLD AS IS.”
A Family Legacy Stretching Back to 1920
The retailer dates its founding to 1923, according to Furniture Today. NOLA.com/Gambit recounts that brothers-in-law Joseph Hurwitz and Morris Mintz, Russian Jewish immigrants who arrived in New Orleans in 1920, opened a furniture store soon afterward. The business has remained in the Mintz family for three generations, according to the company’s website.
The company has been headquartered at its showroom and warehouse on Airline Drive in Metairie since 2000, after decades of serving Greater New Orleans from earlier locations, according to Gambit Weekly. NOLA.com/Gambit identified Mitchell Mintz, the founders’ grandson and great-nephew, as the company’s president and CEO. Hurwitz Mintz said on its website that it “proudly celebrated 100 years of serving the Greater New Orleans area” in 2024.
The business has weathered its share of local disasters over the decades. Furniture Today notes that the company's suburban store in Metairie was damaged by Hurricane Katrina but reopened for business in late October of that year, a resilience that long defined the brand's standing in the community.
A Tough Climate for Furniture Retailers Nationwide
Hurwitz Mintz's closure arrives amid a bruising stretch for furniture retailers across the country. The New York Times reports that annual sales for furniture stores are down about 8 percent since 2022, with high mortgage rates and home prices having frozen the housing market and reduced the turnover that typically drives furniture demand. January furniture-store sales hit their lowest level since the pandemic, per the same report, as fewer Americans moved and fewer households needed to refill empty rooms.
Latest Furniture Sales Data
U.S. Census Bureau data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on FRED show furniture and home furnishings store sales were down 2.2% year over year in May 2026, on a not-seasonally-adjusted basis. This national retail-sales measure does not show how home sales changed in the New Orleans metro area.
The pressure has been building industrywide. Furniture Today found that during the first three months of 2026, the home furnishings industry saw 17 retailers reveal plans to close, with the publication noting that ownership retirement was the chief reason cited by many of them. Among those cases, Greenbaum Home Furnishings in Bellevue, Washington, closed after 67 years as its second-generation owners retired, while Bostic Sugg Furniture in Greenville, North Carolina, shut down after 90 years when its third-generation owner stepped away.
Not every closure has been a quiet retirement story. The Times also reported that Circle Furniture saw sales plummet 20 percent before the company abruptly closed all nine of its stores, went bankrupt and began liquidating its assets.
A Local Comparison
A separate family-owned retailer in the region also wound down after decades in business. Furniture Today reported that Comeaux Furniture, Appliance & Mattress began liquidating its Metairie and New Orleans locations on Jan. 16, 2025, after 72 years in business; owner Michael Comeaux planned to retire. The national furniture-store sales figure cited above provides industry context, but it is not a measure of New Orleans-area home sales and cannot establish their local direction.
For now, Hurwitz Mintz shoppers can still find remaining inventory at the Metairie showroom, though the company's posted terms make clear there is no turning back once a purchase is made.
