West Coast Furniture Gallery closing its doors

Millie Havlock jokingly calls it "The Retirement Sale."

The owner of West Coast Furniture Gallery is closing the store after 21 years in Sebring.

"It's time; I'm ready," she said Wednesday. "The furniture business is not what it was 10 years ago."

Although Havlock is retiring from the furniture business, she probably will continue to work. She said she wants to come home "with no worries." She also wants to be able to spend more time with her six grandchildren.

Everything in the store has been marked down. Havlock is also selling a 2000 Isuzu box truck with a lift as well as the fixtures.

She has three buildings on the property at 5535 U.S. 27 S. and all three are on the market. The biggest building, where the main store is, is almost 12,000 square feet. There is an 11,000 square-foot building with the consignment items that will also be sold.

A 3,000 square-foot storage building is next door. Part of it had been converted into a beauty salon that was in business for a short time.

Havlock has turned to a professional to organize the closeout. She contacted G.A. Wright Sales Inc., which is a marketing firm based in Denver that handles closing sales, promotional sales and grand openings.

In came Jim Currier, who arrived in Sebring on Feb. 18. Currier is an independent contractor who lives in Irving, Texas, but said he travels 40 weeks out of the year.

Currier came to the store and got acquainted with Havlock and her family. They set up a schedule of things to do.

The store was then closed for three days beginning Feb. 22. It reopened Thursday to a crowd of shoppers waiting at the door.

While Currier has been here he has visited other furniture stores locally to check their prices.

"If there is any kind of problem, we give it to Jim; it's such a relief," Havlock said.

As an incentive, a contest has been set up for customers that is based on points for visiting the store and for every dollar a person spends. The top prize is a 26-inch flat screen TV. Second place is a 19-inch flat screen TV. The other prizes include a digital camera, portable DVD player and a Garmin GPS system.

The store will be open from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday during the closeout.