Heilig-Meyers was a retail

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

store chain founded in

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, in 1913 by two Lithuanian immigrants, W. A. Heilig and J. M. Meyers. Its corporate headquarters was in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. The chain grew to become the largest furniture retailer in the United States in the 1990s, ultimately having over 1,000 stores nationwide (including Puerto Rico). Its over-expansion—by purchasing over 100 McMahan's Furniture stores based in

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, in 1993, as well as other stores and chains in the West—contributed to its failure. The company also bought the L. Fish furniture chain in the

Chicago area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

; those stores were closed in 1999. Heilig-Meyers filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

on August 17, 2000, and subsequently announced the liquidation of its inventory, with all of their stores closing by mid-2001. The ''

Richmond Times-Dispatch The ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' (''RTD'' or ''TD'' for short) is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, Richmond, the capital of Virginia, and the primary newspaper of record for the state of Virginia. Circulation The ''Times-Dispatc ...

'' reported in 2000 that the company failed when its large expansion did not succeed in creating sufficient revenue and when customers who had previously used the company's in-house credit began using credit cards instead. The company's credit customers had grown increasingly weary of lower quality. All of its stores were closed at the end of the year, except for its RoomStore-branded locations, which remained open. In 2005, RoomStore, the only part of Heilig-Meyers remaining, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy after receiving $35,000,000 (~$ in ) to pay off its debts;Room Store emerges from bankruptcy protection - Washington Business Journal:
/ref> RoomStore would be liquidated seven years later. The company, which had sponsored

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Winston Cup drivers Bobby Hillin Jr.,

Dick Trickle Richard Leroy Trickle (October 27, 1941 – May 16, 2013) was an American race car driver. He raced for decades around the short tracks of Wisconsin, winning many championships along the way. Trickle competed in the ASA, ARTGO, ARCA, All ...

and

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, was one of the last furniture companies to finance its own accounts. The last CEO/President was Bill DeRusha.

References

Companies based in Richmond, Virginia Retail companies established in 1913 Retail companies disestablished in 2000 Furniture retailers of the United States 1913 establishments in North Carolina 2000 disestablishments in Virginia Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000 Defunct retail companies of the United States {{retail-company-stub