Ohio Furniture Fair Ad – Feb. 3, 1966

Seeing this full-page ad (love the clip art) for Ohio Furniture Fair from the Feb. 3, 1966 Journal got me wondering – do people still shop for a particular style of furniture, like Early American?

As I've noted before, French Provincial was Mom's choice for the Brady household, which I always thought was odd, since she was of German heritage. But that's what she liked, and she kept those pieces (the dining room table & chairs, end tables, and a hutch cabinet) from the 1950s her entire life. 

But in the early 1980s, Mom decided it was time for a new look in her living room and bedrooms. She and Dad made a shopping trip of sorts down to (I think) Thomasville, North Carolina. The idea was that you selected and bought the furniture directly from the manufacturer and had it shipped to you, thus eliminating the middle man. My older brother and I were conveniently living at home at the time (remember the recession?), and we unloaded the truck when it arrived. I couldn't tell you what the style was, but she liked it.

Anyway, Ohio Furniture Fair opened its doors in early June 1962. Here's the Grand Opening ad from June 9, 1962. It was located at 453 Broadway, right next door to Lorain National Bank.

June 9, 1962

Lorainites sure had a lot of choices back then for furniture shopping: besides Ohio Furniture Fair, there was Bear Furniture, Delis Bros. Furniture, Grasso Furniture & Appliance, Harmon-Nielsen, Lee Furniture, Mars Furniture, T N Molas & Sons, Reidy-Scanlan, and Stillman - Deutsch Furniture & Appliance.

Perhaps because of all of the competition, Ohio Furniture Fair ended up closing its doors in late 1971.

October 5, 1971

October 6, 1971

Dec. 21, 1971