McDuffie's to Close in Sumter, S.C.
McDuffie's Furniture in Sumter, S.C., Closing After 90 Years in Business
April 6, 2009McDuffie's Furniture, a retail mainstay in downtown Sumter, S.C., will close after 90 years of operation, the Sumter Item reported last week.
Owner Angus McDuffie said that other businesses and the fact that no one in the family wanted to take over the furniture store were a bigger reason for the decision than declining revenues.
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"When your children aren't interested and I'm not blaming them; I understand," he said in the report, "but you just get to a point where you say, 'What is the point if you can't hand it off?' I'm not going to sell my family name. I'm sorry; I'm just not."
The Home Furniture Co. opened in 1919 at 114 S. Main St. in Sumter. J.C. McDuffie Sr., McDuffie's grandfather, worked in the Sumter branch of the furniture store, which was based in Florence, and bought it during the 1920s. The store changed the name to McDuffie's Furniture in 1969.
