Ninety-seven year old EMW Carpets and Furniture, located at 2141 S. Broadway in Denver, will be closing its doors forever this fall. Though many may think the closing is due to COVID-19, quite the opposite is true. The property was placed under contract with a developer just before the pandemic hit. A Store Closing Sale has begun and will run into the fall. Prices are slashed and mattresses are currently 50% off.
While everything must go, the store’s 60,000 square feet of fine furniture and mattresses are not yet bare. In fact, the owner told BusinessDen, delays in shipments have meant he’s still getting new product in.
“I’ve got orders from July that normally I get in a week, and the one I just checked on is Sept. 22,” he said.
The store’s website says it is open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., but you’d be smart to call first to confirm. The number is 303-744-2754.
The store had a very modest beginning when Englebert H. Wagenblast and his wife Elizabeth Mary Wagenblast (EMW) started the business from their home on South Broadway in 1923.
The business continued to expand to its present form which now takes up almost an entire city block. The motto “Same family, Same location” still holds true as four generations have owned and worked in the business.
The business has survived the depression, several recessions, the Harvard Gulch flood of 1956, a warehouse fire, a direct hit from a tornado in 1988 and now a pandemic. The lifeline has always been loyal generations of customers who come back time after time.
My grandparents bought all their furniture from EMW. We grew up just down the street. Sad to see all the old places disappearing.