After 31 years, Amherst Wall Furniture gets ready to close its doors

A pioneer in the sale of furniture that complements home electronics, Steve Young, owner of Amherst Wall Furniture, plans to retire before the end of the year.

He will be closing a landmark store that has operated from the same location, 3339 Sheridan Drive in Amherst, for 31 years.

"I have had a wonderful time serving the people of Buffalo, but after 31 years, it's time to turn out the lights and close the doors," he said.

Young started the business in April 1976 after a frustrating search for quality furniture to house TV and audio components for his own home.

"At that time, console televisions were giving way to portable sets, and component stereo systems were becoming very popular. But there were only a handful of stores - most of them on the east coast of Florida - providing access to quality cabinet manufacturers producing this kind of furniture," Young said.

"Over the years, we have seen the furniture change to units accommodating bigger televisions and components that included Betamax, VCR, cable converter boxes, TiVos and DVD players," he said.

"For other furniture stores, a chair is always a chair, but our products had to keep pace with constantly changing market demands," Young said.

In the 1980s, he added to the mix by providing furniture to hold the first desktop PCs and later expanded the selection of desks for use in any home or business office.

Although the store has primarily featured furniture of all-wood construction, it also has carried ready-to-assemble furniture, known as RTA, based on a particle board core.

"In 2004, we decided to devote a larger portion of our floor space to RTA furniture by becoming a Sauder Superstore, carrying the entire product line of the largest RTA manufacturer in the business," said Young.

The store closing also means the end of Amherst Wall's well-known periodic TV commercials, which featured a series of furniture photos with a music box background, interrupted periodically by the words "sale now," voiced by veteran radio announcer Stan Roberts.

"The music came from an actual music box that I picked up in France," said Young. "We have gotten all kinds of calls over the years, ranging from people who find it really irritating to those wanting a recording because it's the only way their child will go to sleep," he said.

Young said the going out-of-business retirement sale will probably last until the fall, but will end before the holiday season.

"We have contractual obligations with some of our suppliers, so there will be some new product coming in, but it will be deeply discounted because, as they always say, everything must be sold," he said.

He plans to move to southern Florida after a going-out-of-business sale is completed.

For more information, call the store at 832-4000.