Georgia Furniture Mart is going out of business after four decades of selling sofas, dining sets, and bedroom furniture to households across the Atlanta metro. Final liquidation sales open to the public on July 16, 2026, at the retailer’s two showrooms in Norcross and Kennesaw, the company confirmed this week.
Michael Hall founded the business in 1986 under a different name and grew it into one of the largest independent furniture showrooms in the Southeast, with Tim Padden later joining as a partner to handle expansion. The flagship Norcross store at 6694 Dawson Boulevard spans 92,000 square feet of showroom space, anchored by an attached 20,000-square-foot outlet that has served Gwinnett County shoppers since the late 1980s. The chain has carried a full assortment of bedroom and dining room sets, mattresses, and area rugs, much of it imported, and has positioned itself as a value-driven alternative to national furniture retailers.
Why the Doors Are Closing
Owners Michael Hall and Tim Padden made the decision to close both showrooms because of two converging pressures, according to a Georgia Furniture Mart press release that formed the basis for the July 13 announcement of the chain’s permanent shutdown. The first is what the company describes as an evolving retail landscape, shorthand for the steady migration of big-ticket furniture purchases online and away from sprawling brick-and-mortar showrooms. The second is the sale of the company’s real estate properties, which removes the underlying land and buildings the business sits on and tips the economics of a 92,000-square-foot retail floor into the red. The press release was distributed to local media and reached Fox5 Atlanta, which published the announcement on July 13 and noted that officials have not confirmed the exact date when the showrooms will close for the final time.
That real estate footnote carries real weight. Independent furniture retailers of this scale typically own or hold long-term ground leases on their showrooms, and the Dawson Boulevard site in particular has appreciated as Norcross has filled in with mixed-use redevelopment and new apartment projects. When the underlying property changes hands, the math on running a large retail floor that relies on foot traffic and in-person browsing changes with it, and not in the retailer’s favor.
The Norcross flagship has been a fixture of the Dawson Boulevard corridor for 40 years, and the Kennesaw store is a more recent addition. The two have run side by side since the second location opened in 2024, less than three years before the final liquidation begins. No buyer or successor operator has been named, and the company has characterized the closure as permanent.
Four Decades on Dawson Boulevard
Michael Hall founded the business in 1986 under the name Underpriced Furniture, leaning into a value proposition aimed at price-sensitive households across metro Atlanta. In March 2020, the company rebranded to Georgia Furniture Mart, a change Hall tied at the time to a broader commitment to serving “all members of the Atlanta community for every occasion and budget,” per the 2021 profile of Georgia Furniture Mart’s Top 100 ranking. GFM was the only single-store Georgia-based furniture retailer on Furniture Today’s 2021 list of the Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores, a recognition built on the chain’s 2020 sales of furniture, bedding, and decorative accessories.
- 1986 – Founded as Underpriced Furniture in Norcross by Michael Hall.
- 2020 – Rebranded to Georgia Furniture Mart; opened a Tucker distribution center for next-day delivery.
- 2021 – Named to Furniture Today’s Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores, the only Georgia-based single-store retailer on the list.
- 2024 – Opened a second showroom in Kennesaw at 860 Cobb Place Boulevard NW.
- July 16, 2026 – Final liquidation sales open to the public at both locations.
That same year of the rebrand, Hall and Padden opened a distribution center in Tucker to enable next-day delivery across the metro area, a service most independent furniture stores cannot match. The Tucker facility let Georgia Furniture Mart undercut national chains on turnaround time and turn speed of delivery into a competitive edge built into the operating model from 2020 forward. Hall has pointed to that combination of price, selection, and speed as the formula that grew the company from a single storefront into a Top 100 retailer by 2021. The 2021 Top 100 ranking was compiled by Furniture Today, the retail furnishings trade publication, based on 2020 sales of furniture, bedding, and decorative accessories.
Expansion continued into 2024 with the opening of a second showroom at 860 Cobb Place Boulevard NW in Kennesaw, an address inside the Cobb Place shopping corridor west of Marietta. The Kennesaw location gave the retailer a foothold in northwest Atlanta and a way to reach customers who had been driving in from Cobb and Cherokee counties to shop the Norcross floor. The store carried the same brand assortment as the flagship, including the imported rug inventory, and absorbed some of the showroom traffic that the Dawson Boulevard store had handled on its own.
The Norcross flagship remained the heart of the operation through every phase of growth. Its 92,000 square feet of showroom space and the attached 20,000-square-foot outlet carried the full brand assortment, including heirloom rugs imported from around the world that have long drawn buyers from across the Southeast. The format, a single enormous retail floor plus an outlet annex, is the model Hall built the chain around in the late 1980s, the format that earned GFM its 2021 industry recognition, and the format that is now coming to a close.
What’s on the Sales Floor
The liquidation will run across the full assortment Georgia Furniture Mart has carried for years, with deep discounts on complete living room, dining room, and bedroom sets, plus the imported rug inventory that has long been a draw for the Norcross showroom. The retailer has lined up what it calls famous name brands across every major furniture category, drawing on a roster that has stocked both budget and mid-tier price points and has been the backbone of the company’s value proposition since the Underpriced Furniture era.
Shoppers should expect price cuts on living room packages from AICO, Corinthian, Leather Italia, Parker House, Steve Silver, and Southern Motion, and on bedroom and mattress offerings from Capitol Bedding, Sealy, Southerland, Stearns & Foster, and Tempur-Pedic. Catnapper and Behold round out the recliner and upholstered goods section. Heirloom rugs imported from around the world will be priced to move quickly, and outlet pricing at the 20,000-square-foot Norcross annex is expected to track the main showroom reductions.
The full brand roster on the sales floor includes:
- AICO – living room and dining room case goods.
- Behold – upholstered furniture.
- Capitol Bedding – mattresses and bedding.
- Catnapper – recliners and motion furniture.
- Corinthian – living room and dining collections.
- Leather Italia – leather upholstery.
- Parker House – sofas, sectionals, and home office.
- Sealy – mattresses.
- Southerland – bedding.
- Southern Motion – motion and reclining furniture.
- Stearns & Foster – premium mattresses.
- Steve Silver – dining room and occasional furniture.
- Tempur-Pedic – mattresses and sleep products.
Hall’s Thanks to a Generation of Customers
Beyond the furniture, the closing ends a long run of community work by Hall and Padden. Over the past 40 years, the business has supported local veterans organizations, youth programs, and St. Jude, alongside other charitable initiatives across metro Atlanta, according to the company’s closing announcement. The Kennesaw expansion in 2024 extended that footprint into Cobb County, and the Tucker distribution center has been a steady employer in DeKalb County since 2020.
We are deeply thankful to everyone who has been part of this journey and entrusted us with their homes. While this chapter is coming to a close, the memories and relationships we’ve built will always remain.
Hall, the founder and public face of the chain since 1986, signed the statement himself. Padden, who joined as a partner ahead of the Tucker distribution center in 2020, did not add separate remarks in the release. The same statement appeared on the company’s website and was distributed to local media through the press release picked up by Fox5 Atlanta and other outlets on July 13.
What Remains Unclear
Two practical questions for shoppers and employees are still open as of the July 13 announcement. Georgia Furniture Mart has not confirmed the exact date when the showrooms will close for the final time, leaving the length of the liquidation window undefined. Nor has the company said how many employees will be affected by the permanent closures at either location, nor what will happen to the Tucker distribution center that has supported next-day delivery since 2020.
The Norcross flagship has historically been one of the larger furniture employers in Gwinnett County, and the Kennesaw showroom added jobs on the Cobb side when it opened in 2024. Neither the press release nor local coverage has put a number on the workforce impact, and the company’s stance on severance, final paychecks, or transition support for affected workers has not been disclosed publicly.
For now, both stores are open and the liquidation team is preparing the floor for the public sale on Thursday. Anyone hoping to see the Norcross showroom in its final configuration has roughly two days between the July 13 announcement and the public opening on July 16, when the chain’s four-decade run on Dawson Boulevard comes to a retail close. The chain’s website, gafurnituremart.com, lists store hours and contact details for both showrooms.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the Georgia Furniture Mart liquidation sale start?
Final liquidation sales open to the public on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at both the Norcross and Kennesaw showrooms, according to the company’s announcement reported on July 13, 2026.
Where are the two Georgia Furniture Mart stores located?
The flagship is at 6694 Dawson Boulevard in Norcross, and the second showroom is at 860 Cobb Place Boulevard NW, No. 106, in Kennesaw, inside the Cobb Place shopping corridor northwest of Atlanta.
Why is Georgia Furniture Mart closing?
Owners Michael Hall and Tim Padden cited an evolving retail landscape and the sale of the company’s real estate properties as the reasons behind the decision to shut down both showrooms permanently.
What brands will be on sale during the liquidation?
The liquidation covers AICO, Behold, Capitol Bedding, Catnapper, Corinthian, Leather Italia, Parker House, Sealy, Southerland, Southern Motion, Stearns & Foster, Steve Silver, and Tempur-Pedic, along with heirloom rugs imported from around the world.
Will the Norcross or Kennesaw store reopen under new owners?
As of the July 13 announcement, no buyer or successor operator has been named, and the company has characterized the closure as permanent.
