'A big loss': Bargain hunting furniture shoppers lament closing of Worcester staple Rotmans

WORCESTER — With a line of people stretching around the block Saturday morning at Rotmans, an passerby traveling above on Interstate 290 might have thought Bruce Springsteen tickets were going on sale at 10 a.m. — not a mad dash of folks searching for bargains on the finest flooring, box springs and cushioned sofas.

The sales team at the Southbridge Street furniture and flooring emporium was out in full-force, and so too were financially conscious furniture shoppers, ranging from fathers carrying newborns and expectant mothers, to senior couples in their 80s and 90s.

On Tuesday, Steven Rotman, president and CEO of Rotmans, announced that he’s retiring from the family business, and Rotmans, started by his parents, is going out of business.

On Saturday, day two of a massive liquidation sale of the "largest furniture and flooring store in New England" was underway.

The sale includes more than $20 million of furniture, mattresses and heirloom-quality rugs that will be deeply discounted at close-out prices. Rotmans will likely remain in business until the end of the year.

It was Amanda Woodward’s second time in the store, while her friend, Alexis Lusignan was a first-timer.

“I think the place is great,” Woodward said. “I got a really wonderful mirror here that I cherish to this day…I love the mirror. It’s huge. It’s perfect. It’s amazing.”

“It’s a beautiful mirror,” Lusignan added.

“It’s a great mirror,” Woodward insisted.

Despite never stepping foot inside Rotmans’ sprawling showrooms before Saturday, Lusignan said she was pleasantly surprised by the beauty and the scope of the store.

The two Grafton Hill women, who were looking for good deals on décor, agreed that it’s sad that the Worcester furniture institution was going out of business.

“It’s always sad to see a family business closing,” Lusignan said.

In search of chairs, a cocktail table

In the midst of redoing some of her furniture, Pam Hebert of Harvard said she wanted to see what kind of options and values she could find in Rotmans.

Although she hasn’t made a purchase at Rotmans in roughly 12 years, Hebert said she was happy with that previous purchase and she was long overdue to come back.

“We remodeled our family room. We put a pool in. And now we have a nice view of the pool. We’re just looking for some furniture to really go with the style. It’s more of a farmhouse style,” Hebert said. “I just happened to be in this area and then I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to stop in.’ I’m looking for some swivel chairs, a cocktail table.”

Unaware that the store was closing, Hebert said her first reaction pulling in the parking lot and seeing the “Going out of business” sign was “Oh, no!”

“This place has a history, family-owned,” Hebert explained. “And I say (‘Oh, no!’) with the closing of any business because everyone’s shopping online now and not really going into stores. I’m disappointed that another business is going out.”

Rattling off “bedroom sets, living room sets, kitchen tables” as some of the purchases she has made in the past at Rotmans, Annmarie E. Nolette of Brimfield said the Rotmans family has been part of her family for decades. And as with any family member, “It’s sad to see Rotmans go,” she said.

“I’ve shopped at Rotmans for a really long time and now it’s liquidating,” Nolette added. “When my daughter (Elizabeth Krans of Sturbridge) told me it was closing, I’m like, ‘Oh, we got to go.’”

A family affair

Married for “22-years-plus,” Nolette said she remembers getting furniture back when she was still a newlywed and she believes her parents shopped here also, which would make three generations from the same family shopping at Rotmans over the years.

“Rotmans has a lot of variety,” Nolette said as an incentive for returning there so often. “Then they had this attic at one point where you could get discounted stuff. That’s where I was heading first.”

On this day, Krans was in a market for a couch.

“This is my first-time shopping for furniture,” Krans said. “I didn’t really want to shop anywhere else. So I’m desperate to find something before they close. I’m going to find something.

“The quality of the furniture at Rotmans has always been so great. I’ve always got the hammy downs.”

Added Nolette: “Most of my kids have gotten my old stuff. Rotmans has been here forever. We’re sad because this has always been a go-to place for furniture.”

Louis Santiago of Worcester was looking for a great deal for a mattress, with his rambunctious 6-year-old son, Daniel, in tow. Although it was only his second time in the store, the elder Santiago said he was sad Rotmans was closing, a sentiment shared by many — if not all — parading through the store.

Steadily going through showroom to showroom, Richard N. Henry Sr. of West Boylston was looking for the perfect sofa at the perfect price.

“Rotmans has been around for years, always been good,” the octogenarian said. “It was always quality.”

Henry, who has bought a few things from Rotmans in the past, said he remembered when they first opened

“It’s a big loss,” Henry concluded.

Bargains to be had

With Rotmans announcing its plans to liquidate its stock, Michael C. Mcginnis of Marlborough thought it was the perfect time to check the showroom for a new sofa and loveseat.

“It’s a big deal,” Mcginnis said of the news of Rotmans’ closing. “I want a sale. I don’t have a lot of money.”

While he said it’s sad that Rotmans is closing, he shrugged the way the New England Patriots are playing lately was even sadder.

Attempting to finagle the price even lower on the perfect lounger, Mcginnis had still one hurdle to overcome, his wife, Nina, and the female salesperson who both favored a less “puffy” sofa and loveseat combo.

Looking for a sleep-sofa, Mel Goss and Joan Graham Goss, 92 and 87 years young respectively, were lamenting the closing of Rotmans.

“I think it’s terrible,” Joan Graham Goss, who was the longtime owner of Discount Carpet at 1280 Main St., said. “I hope somebody takes it over, because they do a good business.”

When a place like Rotmans closes, she said it means the people of Worcester “will have to go a lot further to find some good furniture.”

“They have always had very good furniture here,” she concluded.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: 'A big loss': Bargain hunting furniture shoppers lament closing of Worcester staple Rotmans