Belwoods Furniture closing in August

SANDPOINT — Belwoods Furniture, an iconic downtown Sandpoint store, is closing its doors in August.

The 28,000-square-foot building on Cedar has eight, full-time employees and five subcontractors.

“I am ecstatic about closing,” said owner Ernie Belwood. “It is the best business decision I have ever made as well as the toughest personal decision I have ever made.”

Belwood originally “retired” from the business in 2004 because of health issues. At that time, daughter Lori Stites took over. Father and daughter had worked together for eight years before Lori took the reins.

Belwood and Stites have been overwhelmed by the support of their employees when they were informed about closing. As word has gotten out to the public, there have been “tears and cheers” from long-time customers, relatives and friends, Stites said.

While she enjoyed running the business and working with the public, Lori said the constant ups and downs of doing business is hard on her, but more importantly, it is a strain on Ernie.

“He needs to be retired and not have stress,” she said. “With the slowdown in the economy, making ends meet was getting tougher so we decided this was the right time.”

Ernie, who believes every glass is half full, broke into a few bars of Kenny Rogers’ song “The Gambler” several times during an interview.

“You’ve got to know when to hold’em and know when to fold’em,” he crooned.

The 310 Cedar Street address was originally built as a hotel, with a grocery store and retail. In 1933, Charlie Pennington and a partner moved their Furniture Exchange business from Second Avenue to the current Belwoods address.

Al Jeffries bought The Furniture Exchange in 1964. Ernie Belwood purchased the business in 1975 with the assistance and guidance of Ross Payne.

The Fifth Avenue Car Wash, owned by Stites and the Nu Way Laundromat, owned by the Belwoods are not being sold and will remain in the family, States said.

“We are doing this to simplify our lives,” she said. “This store has just been wonderful. I feel blessed to make this decision right now.”

The building and land have been listed with Century 21 Riverstone and Kiemie & Hagood for $1.5 million. Chris Schreiber with Kiemie & Hagood and Alex Wohllaib with Century 21 Riverstone are the lead Realtors for the sale.

There has already been some “casual interest” in it, she said.

In the meantime, everything in Belwoods is being liquidated. Just about $1 million in merchandise is tucked away in the unique, five-story building.

Everything goes including the delivery truck, Ernie said, with the exception of a photo in the break room that shows Fourth of July fireworks going off behind Belwoods.

The 20-year-old photo bears witness that many of the neighboring businesses have changed in two decades. What hasn’t changed is Ernie’s sense of humor and community.

“A lot of people in this area bought their first couch here,” he said.

Belwoods loose credit policy is a running joke in the family.

“If you had a pulse, Ernie would give you credit,” Lori said.

On Ernie’s first day of running the store, he made a grand total of $5 by selling a few vacuum cleaner bags. He and Ross Payne, who is Lori’s father in law, celebrated that night by spending most of the profit at a local watering hole.

Ernie also recalls a phone call he received from a customer who called him from jail.

“He only had one phone call and he wanted me to know that he was going to be late with a payment. Now that is loyalty.”

Ernie has hundreds of stories with the same theme.

The store has already shifted into liquidation mode and has changed its hours to 10-6, Monday through Saturday and 11-4 on Sundays.

A few of the employees have already found jobs and some have said they will stay until the store is shuttered for good. Lori doesn’t have a job lined up and will start looking right after the store closes for good.

Ernie, who has tried to pull himself away from the store, will be around more until the end.