Hoover House is closing

The most recent Shopper's News had an ad announcing the closing of Hoover House furniture.

Hoover House has been in business on the courthouse square in Rensselaer since the late 1960s, and before Hoover bought it, the location had a furniture store under a different name. It has been owned by Bob Messman since sometime in the 1990s.

I asked why the store was closing, and was told that business has been slow for several years.

The store inventory is smaller than it was several years ago, the last time I was in the store.

Everything is for sale, and they say they will accept reasonable bids. I am not quite sure what a reasonable bid is. There is no definite final day--the final closing depends on how quickly or slowly the merchandise that is there sells.

One wing of the store is already empty. That suggests that the owner knew some time ago that this day was coming and that he was reducing inventory by not replacing what was sold.

Soon the whole place will look like this.

In the past year and a half downtown Rensselaer will have lost both of its furniture businesses.