Breuners Home Furnishings

Breuners Home Furnishings
American private company
Industry Retail (Specialty)
Founded 1856 in Sacramento, California, United States of America
Founder John Breuner
Defunct 2004 (retailer, still available as an online furniture company)
Area served
 Internet
Key people
 Bill Breuner, Beth Breuner Grebitus
Products furniture
Website www.breuners.com

Breuners Home Furnishings or Breuners is an online furniture company that was a chain of brick and mortar furniture stores in the United States for 148 years before declaring bankruptcy in 2004.[1]

Founded in California during the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century, its stores served California and Nevada before expanding to the east coast in the late 20th century.[2] In 2004 the company declared bankruptcy,[3] closed all its retail stores, and now operates solely through the Internet.[4]

History

Photo-mural of downtown Oakland’s Breuner Building under construction

The store was founded in 1856 by William Robert “Bill” Breuner’s great-grandfather[2] John Breuner (1828–1890) to cater to prospectors during the California Gold Rush.[5] The first store opened in Sacramento, California with subsequent branches in Oakland, San Francisco and later throughout California and Nevada. The company went public in 1968 under Bill Breuner.[2] Breuner sold the company in the 1970s[6] and it was acquired by Marshall Fields in 1983.[2] At its height Breuners operated 40 retail outlets.[2] The stores were large bigboxes around 140,000 square feet (13,000 m2).[7] By the 1990s the company was based in San Diego and in 1995 expanded into the New York and New Jersey markets by acquiring Huffman Koos’ 13 stores for 36.9 million dollars.[8] Breuners also owned Good’s Furniture stores.[9]

Legacy

Breuner Marsh, a wetlands area, and Breuner Field, a model airplane field within it, in addition to the Breuner Building in downtown Oakland, are all named after the family.[5]

Slogans

See also

References

  1. ↑ Company History, Breuners.com, access date September 10, 2008
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Obituaries, Stanford Alumni Magazine, September/October 2005, access date August 10, 2008
  3. ↑ Company News; Breuners Home Furnishings files for bankruptcy, New York Times, July 15, 2004, access date September 8, 2008
  4. ↑ Breuners Company History, access date September 8, 2008
  5. 1 2 Genealogical Society marks 110 years of researching family, by Anallee Allen, Oakland Tribune, February 28, 2008, access date August 15, 2008
  6. ↑ Obituary: Beth Breuner Grebitus was civic pillar in Sacramento, by Robert D Dávila, Sacramento Bee, August 6, 2008, access date August 12, 2008
  7. ↑ Former Breuners to receive a makeover, by Christine Morente, Oakland Tribune, January 24, 2007, access date August 15, 2008
  8. ↑ Company News; Breuners Home Furnishings to acquire Huffman Koos, New York Times, September 20, 1995, access date August 15, 2008
  9. ↑ Company News; Breuners Home Furnishings files for bankruptcy, New York Times, July 15, 2004, access date September 10, 2008

External links

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