Document text
Provost holds its final liquidation sale Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Dom Provost and his son, Kent, are closing an Ashland Main Street institution: Provost Home Furnishings. The Provosts, who have operated a business in Ashland since 1888, say "it�s time to move on." By JOHN DARLING ASHLAND � This spring, for the first time in 113 years, there will be no Provost name over a store on Main Street. Some 25 former employees who have worked with the Provosts over the years gathered with Kent Provost and his father, Dom Provost, to preside over the liquidation of a Main Street institution � Provost Home Furnishings. The $250,000 liquidation sale to selected customers continues through this weekend; after that, the 10,000-square-foot store will open its doors to the general public to sell everything until it is gone. "It was a very difficult decision," said Kent Provost, 42, who plans to "retire" briefly before pursuing new opportunities in the Rogue Valley � perhaps in restaurant management, building or some other line of retailing. Provost�s Home Furnishings was started in 1938 by Kent�s grandfather, Dom Provost Sr., in its present location on East Main. It was the successor to Provost Brothers, an old-time "general store" operated by Kent�s great-grandfather, Sylvan Provost, and offering everything from hardware and sporting goods to heating and plumbing fixtures. It sat on the Plaza where Ashland Bakery and Cafe now operates. The very first store, opened about 1888, was a partnership in the Ashland Flour Mill space, near the present entrance to Lithia Park, Dom said. Over the last 62 years, Provost�s Home Furnishings has established a clientele throughout the Rogue Valley that wants "nicer furniture with creative style," mostly made in the United States, Kent said. But profit margins for retailers have been steadily shaved over the years by rising energy costs, cheaper "copycat" furniture from the Far East, high-volume, discount-chain stores and cyclical dips in spending, he said. The cost of natural gas to heat the large store has gone up 300 percent this year, Kent added. Fuel costs also have driven up shipping prices. "People still expect the same prices from retailers and you try to give them the same prices, but you can only do that by shrinking the margins. You can�t sell things at cost, though. You have a payroll to meet," Kent said. Only as a member of a buying pool of Northwest retailers over the last five years has Provost been able to find wholesale prices low enough to stay in business, he said. "Our real competitor, though, is the personal computer, because it has diminished people�s disposable income by $1,000 to $1,500, then constant upgrades and software," said Kent. "It used to be cars that cut into disposable income, but now it�s computers and cars." The liquidation, being handled by SOS Promotions of Issaquah, Wash., will include bedroom sets at 40 percent off and impaired items at more than 50 percent off, Kent said. Like his father, Kent began working at the store as an adolescent. He picked up a corporate marketing degree at Lewis and Clark College and briefly studied law before deciding to return home and take over the store. He has served five years on the Ashland School Board. The store is available for lease, he said, looking about at the sale-stickered furniture. "I love the business and all the people � business partnerships, customers � but it�s time to move on," Kent said. "It�s positive in a lot of ways. When one door closes, another opens." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.