Lurye’s Furniture closes after 114 years

After more than 100 years of serving the Twin Ports area, Lurye’s Furniture in Superior is shutting its doors. The family-owned furniture store at 1208 Tower Ave., known as “your home fashion center,” began its going out of business sale Wednesday. The store employs eight.

Owners Harold and Anne Grossman are retiring, according to store manager Scott Davis.

“Harold has been in the business pretty much since he was a toddler,” he said.

The economy isn’t the reason for the decision, Grossman said.

“I’ve enjoyed being on Tower Avenue; it’s been a positive experience,” he said. “There are many things I’m going to miss.” But it’s time to close this chapter in his life, move forward and enjoy his family.

Lurye’s Furniture was founded as H. Lurye & Sons, Harry Lurye and sons Maurice and Edward, in 1898. At the start, the company focused on stove repairs along with selling a few stove parts and secondhand furniture in a tiny, 20 by 40-foot space. Over time, the family expanded to several different locations on Tower Avenue in Superior, building their business into a successful and long-lived furniture dynasty. The store has been passed down through the family for five generations and rose from the ashes of a 1919 fire that destroyed the first store building. Lurye’s Furniture moved to its present location in 1937. The Grossmans currently run the store with their daughter Ashley Carlson.

In 2009, Harry Lurye was inducted into the Superior Business Hall of Fame alongside Capt. Alexander McDougall, William D. Vinje and Albert J. Amatuzio.

The shuttering of Lurye’s Furniture will leave a gap in the Superior landscape.

“They have been an icon in Superior for more than 100 years,” said Kaye Tenerelli, executive director of the Superior Business Improvement District, and everybody in Superior had a chance to meet the family, who she described as “good people.”

“We lost the last mom and pop furniture store, where you come in as a friend, not a number,” Davis said.

Everything in the store will be sold before it closes, and Davis said the building itself is for sale.

“The final sale truly is a celebration of the five generations of my family who have been privileged to have the patronage of so many in the Superior-Duluth area and nearby over so many years,” Grossman said in a news release. “We look forward to seeing many old friends as we prepare to close for good.”

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