Connecticut Home Interiors isn’t going anywhere. At least not yet.
The home furnishing store at 830 Farmington Ave. in West Hartford, which Tom Hall has owned for about half of his life, does plan to eventually close in the next year.
Hall, who is 81, has owned the business for four decades and stresses that while he plans to sell the building with the intent to close, that won’t happen for a while.
“We’re planning on being around here,” he said Thursday. “I’ve gotten to the point now where I want to retire after 41 years of doing business here. … But I just wanted to reiterate that we’re going to be around.”
For the final year of his business, Hall said, he intends to complete all customer orders.
“So we’re not walking out the door by any means,” he said. “I just want it fully understood that no one should get concerned that we’re not going to fulfill our obligations.”
The business was founded in 1932, and when Hall acquired it in 1983 it was operated by two brothers and was known as Marholin-Lane.
It has occupied the same building for all of that time, located on Farmington Avenue near Auburn Road and across the street from Butterfly, a Chinese restaurant.
Regions Commercial Real Estate Advisors has listed 830 Farmington Ave. for sale for $2.7 million, but stipulates that the new owners must agree to lease the building back to Connecticut Home Interiors for one year at $400,000.
Michael Guidicelli, an agent with Regions Commercial, said the building is one story but also has a loft/mezzanine level and basement storage. Combined, the space is about 54,000 square feet. The sale includes 0.68 acres of land.
While the building is located in a neighborhood business design district (BND) zone, “the town is encouraging residential development there as well,” Guidicelli said.
Hall said his store, which promotes itself as “your North Carolina connection,” features high-quality furniture that is different from “any of the other competitors like Bob’s (Discount Furniture) or Raymour & Flanigan. We sell all the better quality manufacturers that are around.”
He employs eight people, he said, adding “they’ve all been with me for 25 to 35 years.”
Hall also said he spoke with “a few people” who expressed potential interest in acquiring the business, but that didn’t pan out.
“A lot of people looked and did some tire kicking, but have not been able to put together the financing to make it work out,” he said. “So we thought the best situation would be to sell the building and then, finally, over a period of a year, liquidate the merchandise.”
Asked what he plans to do once Connecticut Home Interiors finally closes, he said he’s looking forward to retirement.
“I still have investments and things of that nature,” Hall said. “I have a son that’s in private equity, so I help him out a little bit. But, yeah, it’s time to relax at 81 years old, I think, and maybe do a little traveling.”
Just not for a while yet.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to correct the zoning designation for the property.
