Jeff Jones Furniture to close after 35 years, future building plans unknown

Jeff Jones finally got the perfect review. “I got this Google review and that was it, it said exactly what I’ve been trying to do for 35 years,” he said. “It said the owner is a very personable person who truly cares about his customers and takes care, he really cares about people. And that’s […]

Jeff Jones finally got the perfect review. “I got this Google review and that was it, it said exactly what I’ve been trying to do for 35 years,” he said. “It said the owner is a very personable person who truly cares about his customers and takes care, he really cares about people. And that’s what I’ve always wanted to be remembered as or to be known to someone as … So I went home and told my wife this was a success, that we did it.”

Mr. Jones opened Jeff Jones Furniture On Consignment in 1988 when he was 30, but he grew up in the furniture business. Before opening his own business at 803 Third Ave. SE in Cedar Rapids, Mr. Jones worked at a store for his uncle. He left the store because it wasn’t the right fit. “My family did custom ordering and I didn’t like it,” he said. “People were always calling, going ‘where is my sofa?’ So, I didn’t think I wanted to go through that. I’m very old school and wanted to do it this way.” When he opened Jeff Jones Furniture On Consignment, it was the first furniture consignment store in Iowa. The business has grown over the years, Mr. Jones said, to even include custom orders in 2011 which turned out to be a large section of the store’s business. Customers can still order custom designs on their furniture until July 10, a decision Mr. Jones consciously made to ensure all deliveries were made by his retirement date of Sept. 1. “This last month is our last hurrah,” he said. “They can still do custom orders and we put everything on sale. We’ve sold all the furniture on the floor in the last 10 days, but we don’t sell the floor model. You buy that couch, we order you one and you get it in a week or you can customize it and get it in six weeks. That’s why I put July 10 as the last day so we can liquidate from there and sell what’s on the floor.” Mr. Jones did previously think about expanding to other markets or opening other store locations in eastern Iowa. He decided against it at his mentor’s suggestion.  “My mentor, he’s about 90 years old, but he always told me that I didn’t want to open a store in Iowa City or in Waterloo, not until I’d sold the absolute most out of the square footage,” Mr. Jones said. “When I told him I thought I was ready, he’d ask me if my backyard was full of coffee cans because old people buried money in coffee cans. Eventually, about 10 years ago, he came in and he asked how the coffee cans were. I said they’re full. He said you don’t want to open a store in Iowa City now. And I said no, I worked too hard to save money.”

An unknown future

While Mr. Jones is retiring at the end of the summer and plans to officially close off his time with the business in September, the business and the building’s future is not quite clear. “Some furniture has been ordered, so we’ll be here in August to deliver and to liquidate the remnants,” he said. “Maybe that stuff will go slowly, I don’t know. I don’t have an exact end date, but so far the ordering has been pretty intense.” 

Mr. Jones plans to spend time with his family in his retirement, including his two sons and their four children, and travel more with his wife.  One of the hardest things Mr. Jones has had to do in his 35 years of business, he said, was put in the ad for his retirement sale.  The announcement went live on the business’s Facebook page and website on June 10 and began on June 15, giving Cedar Rapids residents one last month to put in custom orders. Since the posting, customers have poured into the furniture store to tell Mr. Jones what his business has meant to them, some even commenting on Facebook that they don’t know where they will get their next piece of furniture. Regardless of if he rents or sells the building or business, Mr. Jones said it has been a hard goodbye that will continue to be difficult for some time. “You don’t put that many years into the same things for it not to be hard,” he said. “There is no day off. There’s no 10 minutes off. Everything’s always moving. So, no, that part of it’s going to be really hard … But it feels like the right time. It’s a big world out there.”