Pittsburgh’s oldest family business, Lanzafame Furniture, is about to close after 107 years. Founded in 1915 by the family’s founder, Lanzafame, on Black Diamond Street, it was once northern California’s oldest home appliance dealer. At the time, Lanzafame sold everything from stoves to televisions to refrigerators. After World War II, founder Lanzafame’s grandfather, Camillo, began work on the site at 711 railroad ave. it was intended to be a store for hardware products and ships, but he failed to strike a deal with the tenants, so landsfaumer decided to sell the furniture at that address. Now it’s a warehouse. Washing machines sold during World War II washing machines sold at Lanzafame’s furniture store in 1915! In the early days of the 58 year old furniture retailer Pier1, almost all the furniture was assembled, mainly from Carolina, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The furniture was usually made of maple, walnut, or Cherry, and it could take six to eight months to order, and had to be shipped in wooden cases that had been carefully pried open with a crowbar. Most furniture today needs to be received before it can be assembled, and any product ordered online can contain up to 40,000 different parts.

LANZAFAME’s third-generation owner, Chris Lanzafame, has devoted his life to his business. He started working for his business at the age of 13, first assembling furniture and later loading and unloading trucks, and was tall enough to help customize mattress installations. Chris Lanzafame received a bachelor’s degree in business from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree from the San Francisco State University. He took over the family business after his father’s partner retired in 1978. Now, at the age of 67, he says it’s time for a new adventure. He wants to play with his wife and children, like listening to music and sailing. “It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. We wanted to find someone who would take over and if he wanted to continue to make furniture here, that would be great,”Chris Lanzafame said. Despite changes in all walks of life and some tough times at the Downtown Pittsburgh, Lanzafame believes the family business has survived with his wife and son, Geoffrey Pearson. However, the 2019 outbreak of the new crown disease and the slowdown in production and transportation pose new challenges. For months, Chris Lanzafame stopped collecting rent from his tenants.

“We don’t want to lose these tenants,”Chris Lanzafame said. That’s why I promised to find you a “Good tenant.”. Because this is my city, and I like downtown. I don’t want to leave a building empty for too long,”says Chris Lanzafame, who has sold furniture to generations of Pittsburgh residents and others in nearby cities, when he delivers furniture to people’s homes, he often finds old furniture he sold years ago that he finds extremely interesting. Pittsburgh resident Susan Julian the Apostate Gates called Lanzafame “Irreplaceable.”. “The Lanzafame closure is a real loss for Pittsburgh,”she said. It’s rare for a family business to last more than 100 years, but Lanzafame isn’t just a family business. It has been a pillar of downtown for many years and a reflection of the spirit of old Pittsburgh. It is also the only retail company to survive in a bustling city centre.”