Amazing Furniture in Norwich to hold grand opening celebration Thursday
Norwich — The Burnham Square corner of Main Street is no longer completely dark.
The busy intersection of Main/North Main/East Main streets and the Viaduct for years was dominated by the long vacant and deteriorating former YMCA, the former stately Elks Club mansion, converted into a restaurant and now long vacant, and what had been the vacant former Floor Covering Shop. That two-story building at 364 Main/8 N. Main St. now sports “Open” signs, a freshly paved parking lot and the blue and red marquee “Amazing Furniture & Sleep Shop."
“So far, so good,” owner Mark Kehlenbach said of the first five weeks open at the store’s new location. “We’re getting a lot of good exposure. We love the location.”
The store, which has nine full-time employees, had been in a building at the Ponemah Mill complex in Taftville, and still uses the large center mill in the complex for warehouse storage. The business is mostly wholesale, Kehlenbach said. As the Ponemah Mill developers hope to continue the major renovation of the complex, Kehlenbach is looking for an alternative warehouse closer to the new store.
Kehlenbach purchased the building under the property ownership name 364 Main St. Norwich LLC in February for $300,000. It took eight months of renovations, including a new roof, floors, lighting, a handicapped-accessible bathroom and parking lot improvements, to get ready to open. He worked with Norwich Public Utilities to install energy-efficient lighting through the utility’s commercial customer rebate program.
The Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce will hold a grand opening and ribbon-cutting celebration at Amazing Furniture at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The event is open to the public.
The first floor of the retail store is dominated by bedroom and living room sets, laid out for easy browsing and trying out the wares. The room displays much of the furniture the business sells wholesale to other furniture stores across the country, Kehlenbach said, an arrangement that allows him to keep retail prices in check for local customers.
Upstairs is the store’s clearance center, including cancellations by wholesale customers, and is “always changing.” The rear section is the store’s scratch-and-dent bargain clearance room, with single chairs, end tables — some as low as $10 — bed headboards and tables.
Kehlenbach bought Amazing Furniture from the previous owner in 2013 and said he has been in the furniture business since 1991, the wholesale business since 1996.
“I really have taken a liking to Norwich,” Kehlenbach said. “I like the character here. We’re here for good now.”
If you go
What: Amazing Furniture Grand Opening celebration, hosted by Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce.
When: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1
Where: 364 Main St., Norwich
Free and open to the public.
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