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Robert Levin is all smiles as he breaks open a bottle of champagne in celebration with employees at the Levin Furniture, Thursday, March 5, 2020, in Monroeville.
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Levin family to buy back iconic furniture business

Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette

Levin family to buy back iconic furniture business

There was a beverage spill on the Monroeville Levin Furniture’s main showroom carpet Thursday, but not to worry.

The beverage was champagne and the man holding the cup was Robert Levin, who’d just let the world know he’s reacquired the company started by his grandparents Sam and Jessie in 1920, saving some 1,200 jobs in the process.

“We’re back in business!” he enthused at an impromptu celebration with top Levin executives and a pack of reporters there to record the moment.

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Levin’s employees learned earlier in the morning via conference call that Mr. Levin, 63, had bought back the iconic Michigan-based furniture chain from Art Van, whose private investor parent reportedly had run into financial problems and was looking at a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

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But they may not realize how close they came to never celebrating Levin’s 100th year in business in coming months.

Until the deal got wrapped up in a 10-minute phone call about 8 p.m. Wednesday, Mr. Levin confided, liquidators were scheduled to be at Levin stores Thursday morning.

“The ‘going out of business’ signs would have been put up at the stores this weekend.”

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Instead, he said, Levin customers should expect to see ads for a major sale in coming days. And any current customers who’ve made deposits or purchases while awaiting delivery need not worry, he added.

”Any commitment we’ve made to our customers will be fulfilled.”

On Thursday, the Detroit Free Press reported that the Thomas H. Lee Partners private equity firm planned to shut down and liquidate its Art Van stores in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Missouri beginning Friday, impacting 3,100 employees at the 190 Art Van stores.

In the deal, Levin’s also is acquiring Wolf Furniture, which targets the Virginia and Maryland markets as well as Pennsylvania.

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That creates a much larger operation that the one that started it all — a store in Mount Pleasant that sold hardware and furniture “where customers could buy everything from flyswatters and expandable window screens to three piece ‘parlor suites,’” according to the company’s website.

Levin’s Monroeville store manager Jerry Kraus said he’d noticed “things did slow” about three months ago and that he’d heard reports of “liquidity problems” before the first public reports of a possible bankruptcy by the parent firm.

“They were nervous, but they were hopeful,” he said of his store colleagues. “They knew we were a good company and we were run well.”

It was back in 2017 that Mr. Levin had decided it was a good time to sell the business after 25 years at the helm.

He had been living in Washington, D.C., when his brother Howard — who’d stepped in as president after their father, Leonard, died in 1989 — suffered a fatal heart attack in 1993 at age 40. Robert Levin said he only expected he would stay “for a year or two.”

Turned out, he couldn’t take leaving for more than a year or two.

“I think he missed the business, the employees,” said his wife, Kerry Bron, who appeared as enthusiastic as her husband Thursday at being back in the furniture and home furnishing business.

“You know what? I was kind of bored,” Robert Levin acknowledged. “I don’t recommend retirement if you don’t have anything planned.”

The couple did their share of traveling the past two years, visiting South Africa, Brazil, Israel and England and driving across the U.S. as far as Lake Tahoe.

But Pittsburgh remained their true north.

“We love Pittsburgh,” he said. “It’s home. We love the people. We love their spirit. I’m thrilled to be back with this wonderful company.”

Based on the reception he got Thursday, his employees are thrilled to have him back.

While he was away, the new owner had a bumpy time. Levin sold 33 stores in November 2017 to Art Van, which called itself “the Midwest’s No. 1 furniture and mattress retailer.” That company’s founder, Art Van Elslander, died in February 2018.

That same month, then-President and CEO Kim Yost announced his retirement from Art Van. His successor, Ronald Boire, a former CEO with Barnes & Noble, left the company last August.

Mr. Levin knows the business faces challenges — most immediately resupplying inventory — but also generally, as it faces the same competition from customers buying online as every other brick-and-mortar retailer.

But he’s convinced those customers still want to see and touch the merchandise before they buy. How will they know which of the 50 different mattresses that Levin’s offer will feel the best if they don’t lie down on it?

If Mr. Levin harbored any doubts about a future holding fewer trips to exotic lands, it was not apparent Thursday.

As friend, family and colleagues gathered to hail his return, Mr. Levin gushed about his “wonderful management team,” enthusiastically thanked the customers who’ve stayed with them and vowed Levin’s would be around “at least another 100 years!”

Steve Twedt: stwedt@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1963.

Updated at 4:47 p.m. on March 5, 2020

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First Published: March 5, 2020, 2:46 p.m.

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Robert Levin is all smiles as he breaks open a bottle of champagne in celebration with employees at the Levin Furniture, Thursday, March 5, 2020, in Monroeville.  (Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)
Robert Levin celebrates with employees at the Levin Furniture, Thursday, March 5, 2020, in Monroeville.  (Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)
Robert Levin is presented flowers and a hug from Dawn Marie Davin, Sales Manager, while Jerry Kraus, General Mgr., holds the first bottle of champagne in celebration with employees at the Levin Furniture, Thursday, March 5, 2020.  (Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)
A 2002 photo of the signs on a Levin Furniture store close to Donaldson's Crossroads.  (Tony Tye / Post-Gazette)
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