Feds Target Furniture Kings

New Bankruptcy Laws Hit Furniture Stores Hardest

El Segundo, CA ‘Twelve damned years, shot to hell. I don’t know where we’ll go from here.”

The dejected speaker is Ivan “Hollywood Joe” Krupinsky, owner and spokesman for Holly wood Joe’s World Of Furniture Circus, a local fixture on the hard-bitten outskirt strip of Route 191. Upon opening in 1993, the sprawling retailer immediately launched a no-holds-barred campaign to go out of business, a campaign which now appears fruitless due to sweeping changes in federal bankruptcy laws.

“It’s the Man keeping us up, Krupinsky continued. “We’ve slashed prices to the bone, painted every square inch of our windows with neon paint, posted cardboard signs all over Miracle Mall- and all for nothing. It looks like we’ll be staying in business, no matter how strong our desire not to be undersold. It just isn’t fair to the little man.” Collapsing into an overstuffed red-velour armchair with carved coconut-wielding monkey legs, Krupinsky cradled his head in his hands and wept.

Krupinsky’s company is but the latest to be driven into continuance of business by tighter bankruptcy legislation effected last October. From coast to coast, overstocked furniture stores are facing the grim reality of unnumbered days of operation. Ahmaed Ali-Kahli, founder of Southeastern regional ( 228 outlets) Martha Washington Colonial Traditions Furniture, could only shake his head when faced with the acres of woodprint-laminated faux-gilt dinette sets bulging his North Carolina warehouse.

“All I can do is shake my head,” he whispered. "Nobody will buy this crap."