Ashley liquidator says sales will be honored

Customers who paid for merchandise from now-closed Ashley Furniture HomeStores in Yuba City and Redding, and an existing store in Chico, will receive what they paid for, according to the man charged with selling off the last of the stores' goods.

"All pre-(liquidation) sale orders are either completed, or in the process of being delivered," said Stephen Forsey, president of SPCI Cos., a Denver liquidation firm.

Customers seeking refunds, however, are out of luck.

"They can go through the legal channels," said Forsey.

Meanwhile, Evans Furniture of Yuba City has plans to expand.

In October, the store owners will begin leasing the building in Chico occupied by Ashley Furniture.

The former owners of that store, as well as the ones in Yuba City and Redding, are under investigation by Butte and Shasta counties' district attorneys for their business practices.

Together, Butte and Shasta have catalogued complaints against Robert and Vera Myers from more than 200 former Ashley Furniture customers.

The Appeal-Democrat has fielded more than a dozen calls from customers in the Yuba City area who say they paid for furniture they have not received.

Sutter County District Attorney Carl Adams said his office has heard from only three such customers.

Adams has requested that their names be included with the Butte-Shasta list of complainants, in the event that a case is brought against the Myers.

Forsey said the Myers are "cooperating fully with the district attorneys." But, he said, "I don't know where they are now." The Myers have not paid rent for several months, he acknowledged. All the Myers' former merchandise must be cleared out of the Chico building by the end of September. Their Yuba City and Redding stores closed Sunday.

"They were trying to keep the business going," said Forsey of the Myers. They used customer receipts to pay utility and sales tax bills, etc., he said.

Ashley Furniture Industries of Wisconsin has agreed to make good on orders the Myers took prior to the start of liquidation in May, in spite of the fact they will be taking a loss, Forsey said.

The company had previously stopped processing the Myers' orders for merchandise, and cut off the Myers' supply from a distribution center in Southern California.

"They reached the point where they said, 'Hey, you haven't paid us for the previous furniture you got so we aren't going to send you any more,'" Forsey said.

An Ashley warehouse in Chico will remain open until all pre-paid furniture has been delivered, he said.

About 75 percent of furniture the Myers owed their customers has already been delivered, according to Forsey.

Some customers say they have been waiting for their furniture to be delivered since February or March.

Owners of the Evans Furniture stores, according to Harry Swinney, vice president of the company, plan to open their new Chico store in mid-October. They also are considering the possibility of expanding farther north.

It won't be the first time.

Until the early 1970s, Swinney's grandfather and his business partners owned a small Northern California chain of furniture stores under the Evans name, which operated in Chico and Red Bluff, as well as in Yuba City.

"We're eyeballing Redding right now," said Swinney.

The expansion into Chico will create at least 25 new jobs, he said.

Most hires will be out of the Chico area, but a few local employees will be needed to replace those being transferred, Swinney said.

CONTACT Nancy Pasternack at 749-4712 or at npasternack@ appealdemocrat.com.