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He's all sold out Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Real estate developer, auctioneer and longtime furniture store owner Bill Rombach is shutting down his Oak Furniture Outlet store in downtown Medford. Longtime retailer Bill Rombach prepares to close his Medford furniture store By Shari Downhill The showroom floor is a bit sparse these days at Rombach�s Oak Furniture Outlet on Riverside Avenue. Founder Bill Rombach isn�t lamenting the store�s pending closure or the end of his furniture selling career. "I�ve been in the retail business for 53 years now," Rombach said. "I�m tired of it." Rombach decided to close the last of three furniture stores he owned because he did not want to renew the lease on the building which houses Rombach�s, he said. "I just want to do something else now," he said. Rombach, 68, first began selling furniture as a teenager while working in his father�s Oak Grove furniture store. In 1953, when his father moved to Crescent City, Calif., Rombach took over the store�s operation. He also began developing skills as an auctioneer at a young age. By 19 he opened his first auction house on Crater Lake Highway. Now, Rombach serves as director for the Oregon Auctioneer Association. "I just like it," he said. "The noise, the activity, you have to pay attention to a lot of things at the same time if you�re going to be successful. "I�ve probably sold one of everything there�s ever been ... and you never sell the same thing exactly twice," he said. Although Rombach continued to sell furniture over the years, opening stores in Phoenix and Medford, he began buying and selling real estate and developing property as well. Rombach will continue to operate his current business, Everybody�s Real Estate and Auction Service in Medford, after the closure of Rombach�s Oak Furniture Outlet in mid-January. Rombach has managed to integrate his business interests to varying degrees over the years, opening his first store in Phoenix in an old feed barn. "First it was a second-hand store," he said. "Then an auction house. Then it was a retail (furniture) store in 1965." That�s when Rombach�s was born, he said. The Medford store was opened 12 years ago. "We always kept things really jammed," Rombach said, referring to the furniture showroom floor. "We liked to give people something to (see)." Just as Rombach learned the nuances of the retail trade from his father, he has passed on his own business experience to three sons. Rombach�s youngest son, Terry, manages the Medford store, which is busy selling off its hefty furniture inventory. Other business pursuits include property development projects in the Rogue Valley and Bend. Reach reporter Shari Downhill at 776-4463, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.