By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Linville's Furniture Warehouse has moved and changed its name.
But, the same faces can still be found working behind the counter. The new name and location is Creative Home Furniture and Accessories and Carpets Plus at 2607 S. 11th St., about a half mile south and on the other side of the road from the former location.
"We wanted the name to express more of what we had in the store," said Elaine Fischer, an employee at the furniture store.
Creative Home Furniture will still sell the same furniture items and is also now offering flooring products. Store manager Christine Neff said the move was necessary for a couple reasons – exposure and additional room.
The former Linville building, the home of the business since October 2001, was about 7,000 square feet, 6,000 square feet of which was the showroom, Neff said. Remodeling currently taking place at the new building should make the showroom floor about 7,500 square feet, and Neff added the new facility has a much larger warehouse area.
"The [old] building sat so far off the road and our exposure was limited," Neff said. "We had a lot of good things going on that nobody knew about."
The new Creative Home Furniture space is also brighter, with lower ceilings and large windows open to South 11th Street. Neff said the staff is still settling in, but added the move was quick and smooth.
The same people working at Linville's stayed on with Creative Home Furniture, and Neff said they have also added an employee of the carpet store staff to help with Carpets Plus. Carpeting and laminate and vinyl flooring are available by special order only, and installation is also offered.
"We were looking for a building to better showcase what we offered and it just happened to have a carpet business in it," Neff said. "This building is overall much larger than what we had."
Neff said she happened upon the new location while trying to find another potential building. She also added the operation wanted to make sure to stay in Niles.
"We did not want to go across the state line into Indiana," she said.
Creative Home Furniture will host an official Four Flags Area Chamber of Commerce grand opening in February.