Johns Island furniture store strikes its colors

JOHNS ISLAND — Joe and Claire Kayal peeked through the windows of The Furniture Gallery on Tuesday. They stopped by after seeing the going-out-of-business sign on a truck parked at the entrance to The Island Center strip mall at River and Bohicket roads.

The New Jersey couple, wintering for a couple of weeks at their house on nearby Seabrook Island, thought the store, stocked with lots of coastal furnishings, was open.

But it was closed as store workers and liquidators hurried to change the price tags on hundreds of items from sofas and beds to centerpieces and paintings, readying the 15-year-old business for its closing sale that starts at 10 a.m. today.

After every stick of furniture, including a plasma TV lift console, quaint bar stools and ornate rugs, is gone, owner Tania Klein-Breteler and her four employees will be looking for other work, probably before May when her lease expires.

"I've been forced to do it because of the bad economy," Klein-Breteler said. "When you can't pay your bills, you have to change directions."

She said business began slowing down in 2007; and, though there were spurts of hope last year, it gradually trickled to a crawl after the financial markets collapsed in the fall.

"I would work Saturday, and we would sell a candle for $5. It wasn't worth keeping the lights on," she said.

"I would work Saturday, and we would sell a candle for $5. It wasn't worth keeping the lights on," she said. "A lot of people would walk through and say, 'You have nice things, and we will be back,' but nobody is separating from their money at all."

Klein-Breteler missed the fall furniture show in High Point, N.C., because, in her words, "Obviously, I didn't need anything. You try to hang in there, and you put your own money into it. I think the economy will take another year before it turns around. I can't stay open another year without any income. It's with regret. The hardest thing I had to do was tell my employees."

Jeanine Hounan of West Ashley, a designer for the shop for 10 years until she struck out on her own in January to become a part-time interior designer, said, "It's very sad. There's a lot of people on the islands who were just regulars."

Hounan, who was still doing custom treatment on curtains, beddings and such for the shop, said, "Things are slow. We are all just living month to month."

Like other sea island residents for sure, the Kayals are sad to see the shop go, but they don't intend to miss the sale when it begins this morning.

"We'll be here," they said.

Reach Warren Wise at 937-5524 or wwise@postandcourier.com.