PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Customers of Levin Furniture and its parent company, Art Van Furniture, are expressing frustration after trying to pick-up merchandise at now-closed warehouses this weekend.
KDKA viewers say there’s confusion regarding the pick-up of already purchased furniture and the status of warehouses amid Coronavirus concerns.
Art Van posted on its website saying in-store pick-up operations will “continue through Sunday, March 22, 2020, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm in all stores except for the store located in Illinois.” KDKA reported that information on Friday and Saturday. However, several KDKA viewers reached out to the news desk and said the locations are closed and they’ve been able to get a hold of the parent company.
The Art Van website only makes reference to one closed warehouse in Warren, Michigan saying “due to continued concerns related to COVID-19 and loss of personnel, we are unable to keep the Warren warehouse open for Customer Pick Up (CPU) at this time.”
The Art Van website does not give specifics on the status of any other warehouses owned by the company.
KDKA News reached out to Art Van and the media representative said she will gather information from the warehouses and send updated information to KDKA.
We also reached out to Robert Levin, the company’s original owner, to see if he’s aware of any proposed timeline or solution to get the purchased furniture to their rightful owners. KDKA will post an update as soon as we hear back.
Levin had recently announced he was buying the company back, but later said he learned the parent company was “unwilling to sell it” back to him, per the terms of the “letter of intent.”
“This is horrible,” Levin said Thursday evening to KDKA’s Paul Martino.
Levin originally said the fate of the deliveries will “likely be decided in bankruptcy court” and that Pennsylvania’s attorney general Josh Shapiro is also investigating.
More than 1,000 employees have been laid off in the process.
Stay with KDKA News as this story will be updated shortly.
