Mid-Century Furniture Warehouse in Port Richmond is closing

Now is the time to go to Mid-Century Furniture Warehouse in Port Richmond, because in a little more than two weeks this Philadelphia fixture will be gone.

The last weekend of February and the first weekend of March will be the swan songs of this beloved artisanal furniture depot located at 3650 Richmond St. The warehouse will be open Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“COVID changed a lot of things for me,” said Brian Lawlor, owner of Mid-Century Furniture Warehouse. “And my lease is up at the end of March. I’m turning 60.”

For Lawlor, the end of most in-person auctions during the pandemic has changed the way his business operates and made it much more difficult to replenish his inventory.

Pre-2020, Lawlor would go to five or six live auctions a week where he could inspect the new items while bidding on them. Now, there are only one or two in-person auctions a month, and the rest are online where he has to just go off of photos of the furniture.

“I’ve tried it for the last couple of years and just … it’s not me, I don’t love it,” said Lawlor. “You can’t see the finish, you can’t get a true sense of what you’re buying. That’s difficult, especially when you’re repairing things and you’re refinishing things.”

In online auctions dealers also have to compete with customers who are buying directly. Lawlor says prices have shot up and he’s had to follow suit, which means its harder for him to sell at a price range his usual buyers can afford.

Lawlor has been running this business for almost two decades, first in Fishtown, then at Second Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue for 10 years, and in the current Port Richmond location for five.

The cost of rent has also factored into his decision to close. Lawlor’s first location cost $1,000 a month, the second $2,500, and now he’s paying $9,000 a month.

“There used to be a lot of reasonably priced warehouse space, but that cheaper space in Philadelphia is gone away,” said Lawlor.

He says he will miss the Sunday sales that brought in hundreds of people over the course of the day. A lot of familiar faces have been popping in again in recent weeks as news spread of the warehouse’s impending closure.

Much of his backlog of inventory has already sold, although he’s displaying everything he has left in the showroom for the final days. Everything in the store is discounted for these last two weekends of sales.

As for Lawlor, he’s not sure what comes next.

“I’m gonna figure it out,” said Lawlor. “Maybe I’ll do something similar. I’m really not sure. First, I’m going to take a break for six months. Take a weekend off.”