Another Columbus-area furniture retailer has landed in Chapter 11 bankruptcy — and this time it wasn’t Big Lots.
American Signature Inc., the parent company behind Value City Furniture in Central Ohio, filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on Friday, citing “ongoing macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted the entire home furnishing industry,” according to the announcement.
The company is now being put on the market. A WARN notice submitted in Ohio shows that 256 positions in the state will be eliminated, with a total of 326 layoffs beginning January 20. The offices located at 4300 East Fifth Ave. in Columbus will also shut down due to a “significant decline in sales, resulting liquidity challenges and the Company’s anticipated Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.”
Furniture Today reported that American Signature Furniture and Value City Furniture listed estimated assets between $100,000,001 and $500 million, while estimating liabilities between $500,000,001 and $1 billion, with roughly 1,000 to 5,000 creditors involved.
The Top 100 retailer — which generated more than $1 billion in sales in 2024, according to Furniture Today — traces its roots back to the Schottenstein family. After World War II, E.L. Schottenstein carved out part of the family’s operations for furniture and renamed it Value City Furniture. Alvin Schottenstein took over in 1948, and in 1984, Jay Schottenstein became president. Value City Furniture’s website notes, “The innovation continues today under Jonathan Schottenstein’s leadership, and thanks to a modern approach to the idea of value: style and quality paired with affordability, service versus selling and doubling down on our commitment to an exceptional delivery experience.”
Three Value City Furniture stores in Michigan have already closed, and four more are set to close in Nashville. Five locations remain in Central Ohio, though whether they will stay open is still unclear.
The Schottenstein family — founders of Value City Furniture — donated exclusively to Republican candidates throughout 2024 and almost certainly cast their ballots for Trump, supporting Trump-era tariff policies imposed on Americans.
Choosing Republican leadership carries consequences: those tariffs drive up costs, slow consumer spending, strain the economy, and discourage purchases like furniture. In the end, those same policies helped push Value City Furniture into bankruptcy — wiping out 256 Ohio jobs.
The irony is Value City Furniture family votes to shut themselves down.
