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This article confirms the site has been sold to a developer.
By: Rita Zekas Special to the Star, Special to the Star, Published on Tue Dec 23 2014
Marty Millionaire has cashed out.
The eclectic furniture store at the corner of Parliament St. and Queen St. E., destination of empty nesters and college grads furnishing their first pads, and the go-to spot for quality used furniture for countless TV and film productions, has sold building and contents and packed it in after 36 years.
The windows are shielded by screens and shutters and the sign posted on the door says “Marty Millionaire is now closed. Inventory is being moved under new ownership. We thank all our customers for their business and wish you all the best in the future.â€
The above is followed by a telephone number for all future rental/sales inquiries.
Co-owner brothers Norm and Marty Nefsky are second-generation furniture merchants. Their father sold the late Ed Mirvish the 400 chairs in his restaurant Ed’s Warehouse, which is synchronistic since Marty Millionaire is also from an indelibly flamboyant tradition — the Honest Ed’s of furniture. It started in 1968 at Queen St. W. and Spadina Ave., moving to the present location in 1978.
Marty is on a plane, bound for two weeks in Florida. Norm is still on the premises wrapping things up.
“Game over,†says Norm. “Stock is sold, the door is locked.â€
“Sit down,†he instructs. There is no shortage of chairs. He can’t even begin to guess the inventory over four floors and 40,000 square feet, including the basement.
“We have been over-buying for 35 years,†he allows. “My shipper says, ‘You see two, and buy 20.’ â€
Is he taking any mementos? “There’s nothing we want,†he says.
Norm won’t divulge how much the store sold for, except to say “enough.†There were two buyers, he says; he sold the building to an undisclosed developer; office-furniture vendors Fraser Huntly bought the stock.
Deciding to sell was a combination of timing and money.
“Taxes and insurance doubled over the last 10 years and fire insurance was more difficult,†he explains. “The roof needs to be replaced and we have a 60-year-old elevator. These people came in one day and offered money (for the building). The process started in July but they had to do an environmental assessment.
“After the assessment passed, I said to (the developer), ‘Here are the keys, give me my money.’ He said ‘No, we want it empty.’ So then we went to plan B. Maybe we’ll move (Marty Millionaire) to another location. But every lease in town was asking four times too much for junk — it’s not First Canadian Place.
“On Nov. 1, (the developer) said he wants the place. So I told the staff to sell it all off. We officially closed on Dec. 18, when the (Fraser Huntly) guy paid for the merchandise.â€
Norm is vague about his future plans, but retirement isn’t one of them.
“Don’t forget, Marty is five years older than me,†Norm harrumphs. €œI’ll empty the building, close the sale . . . †and takes his leave to facilitate two returns from a film production.
By: Rita Zekas Special to the Star, Special to the Star, Published on Tue Dec 23 2014
Marty Millionaire has cashed out.
The eclectic furniture store at the corner of Parliament St. and Queen St. E., destination of empty nesters and college grads furnishing their first pads, and the go-to spot for quality used furniture for countless TV and film productions, has sold building and contents and packed it in after 36 years.
The windows are shielded by screens and shutters and the sign posted on the door says “Marty Millionaire is now closed. Inventory is being moved under new ownership. We thank all our customers for their business and wish you all the best in the future.â€
The above is followed by a telephone number for all future rental/sales inquiries.
Co-owner brothers Norm and Marty Nefsky are second-generation furniture merchants. Their father sold the late Ed Mirvish the 400 chairs in his restaurant Ed’s Warehouse, which is synchronistic since Marty Millionaire is also from an indelibly flamboyant tradition — the Honest Ed’s of furniture. It started in 1968 at Queen St. W. and Spadina Ave., moving to the present location in 1978.
Marty is on a plane, bound for two weeks in Florida. Norm is still on the premises wrapping things up.
“Game over,†says Norm. “Stock is sold, the door is locked.â€
“Sit down,†he instructs. There is no shortage of chairs. He can’t even begin to guess the inventory over four floors and 40,000 square feet, including the basement.
“We have been over-buying for 35 years,†he allows. “My shipper says, ‘You see two, and buy 20.’ â€
Is he taking any mementos? “There’s nothing we want,†he says.
Norm won’t divulge how much the store sold for, except to say “enough.†There were two buyers, he says; he sold the building to an undisclosed developer; office-furniture vendors Fraser Huntly bought the stock.
Deciding to sell was a combination of timing and money.
“Taxes and insurance doubled over the last 10 years and fire insurance was more difficult,†he explains. “The roof needs to be replaced and we have a 60-year-old elevator. These people came in one day and offered money (for the building). The process started in July but they had to do an environmental assessment.
“After the assessment passed, I said to (the developer), ‘Here are the keys, give me my money.’ He said ‘No, we want it empty.’ So then we went to plan B. Maybe we’ll move (Marty Millionaire) to another location. But every lease in town was asking four times too much for junk — it’s not First Canadian Place.
“On Nov. 1, (the developer) said he wants the place. So I told the staff to sell it all off. We officially closed on Dec. 18, when the (Fraser Huntly) guy paid for the merchandise.â€
Norm is vague about his future plans, but retirement isn’t one of them.
“Don’t forget, Marty is five years older than me,†Norm harrumphs. €œI’ll empty the building, close the sale . . . †and takes his leave to facilitate two returns from a film production.
