Ruby-Gordon is closing for good. What customers need to know

On Jan. 30, two months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, longtime local furniture store Ruby-Gordon announced it is shutting its doors.

Third-generation president and owner Aaron Ruby shared the news on his LinkedIn page.

“Endings are hard and I have struggled to write this a post over the last few days,” he wrote. “Ruby-Gordon will soon be no more…. the business that shares my name, that my grandfather started and my father ran for 50 years, that I have dedicated my life to over the last 10 years… will close for good before year end. I am the last generation of my family’s business.”

Liquidator Planned Furniture Promotions will hold a going-out-of-business sale at the Henrietta location, 3737 West Henrietta Road.

Raymond C. Stilwell, Ruby-Gordon’s bankruptcy attorney, could not provide a start date for the sale but said it could begin in the coming days. He said Planned Furniture Promotions likely would advertise it online, on television and in print.

Once it starts, the sale will run no more than 180 days.

What Ruby-Gordon customers should know about orders

Meanwhile, customers who have outstanding business with Ruby-Gordon will have to wait for further instructions.

“I know what you’re going to ask,” Stilwell said. “Who do they call? I’m working on that.”

Prior to Aaron Ruby’s Jan. 30 announcement, two Ruby-Gordon customers reached out to the Democrat and Chronicle after being unable to resolve problems with their orders.

Ray Umbrino of Greece bought two mattresses in August and initiated an exchange in November. A Ruby-Gordon sales representative told him his new mattresses would arrive Dec. 21. They never did, and he hasn’t been able to contact anyone by phone, email, social media or in person.

Another customer who did not want to be identified bought an adjustable mattress and base in August. He got the mattress but still hasn’t gotten the base and has been unable to get an answer about when it will arrive.

“I realize there’s been some miscommunication,” Stilwell said. But in crafting the bankruptcy proposal, “everyone agreed that the customers shouldn’t be the ones caught in the middle of this.”

He said he would contact the Democrat and Chronicle with a phone number as soon as one is available.

He added that returns, exchanges and refunds will be handled by Planned Furniture Promotions, not Ruby-Gordon.

What happened to Ruby-Gordon?

Ruby-Gordon filed for Chapter 11 Nov. 20. Court paperwork showed that the company had $1,000,001 to $10 million in assets, $1,000,001 to $10 million in liabilities and an estimated 100 to 199 creditors.

Last summer, Aaron Ruby told the Democrat and Chronicle that in response to upheaval caused by the pandemic, Ruby-Gordon was changing the format of its two remaining stores, at 3737 West Henrietta Road, Henrietta, and 140 Greece Ridge Center Drive, at The Mall at Greece Ridge.

The plan was to turn the Henrietta store into a custom design center and the Greece location into an outlet store.

The Greece store later closed.

The Henrietta store closed Dec. 15, Ruby said in an email dated Jan. 30.

Stilwell said 27 employees lost their jobs.

In an interview with furnituretoday.com published Nov. 22, 2023, Aaron Ruby cited pandemic-related pressures and the sudden closure in August of a North Carolina-based furniture supplier as the factors that led to the bankruptcy.

Ruby-Gordon's roots in Rochester NY

Ruby-Gordon’s Rochester roots date back to 1936, when New York City native Frank Ruby moved here and opened Ruby Furniture on South Clinton Avenue, where Innovation Square (formerly Xerox Square) now stands.

Eleven years later, he partnered with Ted Gordon, and in 1965, Ruby and his son, Ray (Aaron’s father), moved Ruby-Gordon out to West Henrietta Road.

“There was nothing out there but a dairy store,” Frank Ruby told the Democrat and Chronicle in 1991, referring to Meisenzahl Dairy. “People thought we were crazy.”

However, that year, Ruby-Gordon was the largest single-site furniture business in New York state.

At one point the Ruby family owned 14 retail stores, but starting in the mid-2000s, Ruby-Gordon co-founder Ray Ruby slowly sold off most of them.

Aaron Ruby, 34, took over what remained of the business 10 years ago.

In his LinkedIn message, he wrote: “To say the last few years have been hard would be an understatement and last year was the hardest by far. Both my physical and mental health hit rock bottom while the business went into a complete tailspin. It left me with a choice, keep fighting the same fight again and again or throw in the towel. I wanted to fight because it’s who I am, but I had to ask ‘at what cost.’ The decision to admit defeat and relinquish control was not an easy one but it is one I have grown to accept. For the first time I feel like I can catch my breath again. I do not regret any of the decisions I made, I did the best I could with the knowledge I had at the time. I have learned more and done more in business in the last 10 years than most people get exposed to in a lifetime and for that I will be forever grateful.”

Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Ruby-Gordon is closing for good. What customers need to know