FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WFFT) - Art Van Furniture announced it will closing all company-owned stores with liquidation sales starting Friday.

This comes as a major disappointment to some shoppers here in the Summit City.

Art Van Furniture is closing all of its store locations after 60 years.

The announcement came Thursday morning.

"It's a place we visited often. We made a lot of purchases, so it's kinda hard to see them go away because they had pricing that was good for us, for certain homes, because you don't need the $2,000 couches and they did a great job with pricing and decorating as well," shopper William Lillard said.

Three years ago the company was sold to private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners who has a major stake in the company.

Despite their efforts to stay open, the company says they're facing a challenging retail environment and performance for the stores were hit hard.

"Talking with some of the staff at the store, they found out about the same time I did," shopper Bob Hardin said.

As of Thursday, there are 141 stores in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri.

There are also additional franchise locations across Michigan.

Those stores will not be affected by the liquidation.

Liquidation sales begin Friday, March 6.