November 26, 2025 • 7 mins
Mark Somerson of Columbus Business First has the latest local business news including Value City claims bankruptcy
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
As we switch over to the Legacy Retirement Group dot
com phone line and say good morning to Mark Summerson,
Columbus Business.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
First, Mark, how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I'm good. How are you happy? Wednesday?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah? Happy day before Thanksgiving?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You got a What do you get about a twenty
five pound turkey ready to go tomorrow?
Speaker 3 (00:15):
You know, I didn't look at the size of it.
It looks big. It's sitting in the fridge ready to go. Okay,
I'm guessing it's a little smaller than I'm thinking in
the mid teens. Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
That's that's legit I think of, you know, fifteen to
eighteen pound turkey, depending on how many people are you,
how many people you have coming over.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We have just a total of six, so it's not too.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Perfect perfect number, perfect mass.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Are you in charge of the turkey or do you
do you have some sort of like are you on
pie duty or do you do sides or what you're responsibility?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I help take stuff out to the table and then
I carve.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
That's okay. Now do you clean? Do you clean up
and do the dishes and all that too.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I will load the dishwasher a few times.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Wow, yes, dish washing my.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
My wife loves to cook, she's really good at it,
and uh so I let her do her stuff. Our
kitchen is not the biggest kitchen in the world, so
it's best that I hang out somewhere else.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
See, that's a great excuse to you know what, Han
I would. I'm here to help, but I'm just gonna
get in your way, you know. So I'm just gonna
go over here and put on football and yeah something,
I'll try that one. Hey, uh boy, it happened a
little quicker than I thought. But the Columbus Crew have
a naming rights for their stadium. It's and we were
speculating on this one last week. Yeah, I should have
(01:36):
guessed Scott's Miracle Grow it was.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
It wasn't on my bingo card.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Makes sense, makes perfect.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
They've already been They've already been a partner with the
Crew for years with their field, and it just makes sense.
I mean, Scott's Miracle Grow. You have this beautiful green
pitch to play on. It just makes sense. So yeah,
they announced last week that they were ending the agreement
they had with lower dot Com to be the name
of the stadium, which it has been since it opened
(02:05):
in twenty twenty one in the Arena district. And yeah,
they they had somebody lined up right away. They told
us they had somebody lined up. We were guessing, of course,
maybe it would be Huntington, maybe it would be Anderill,
maybe it would be Nationwide or even you know, Wendy's
or something. But no, Hey, Scott's Miracle Grow And it
makes sense. I mean grass and all that.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I had my money on cover my Med's field, but
I guess that didn't work out.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
And you know, not this time.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
So I got to wonder, though, what are they gonna
call it?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Because, oh, you know, miracle grow field.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Right, It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue though. And
you know how fans are they, They tend to shorten
things and use some sort of vernacular.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So I mean, it's a Scott's just Scott's field.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Just Scott's field, why not?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Or smg img.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Yeah, I mean we're just miracle the miracle off.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I like Scott's or SMG field that that rolls off
the tongue. See, guys like me, we've got to say
this every week. See you get just to type it,
we got to actually spit it out.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
You know. It's like like.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
A Value City arena inside the Jerome Schottenstein Center. It's
his stag doesn't roll off the tongue, which that's The
next story is Value City Furniture closing their Columbus headquarters
and cutting some jobs after the bankruptcy.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah. Actually I heard from a friend last week who said, Hey,
just a heads up. We had ordered a kitchen table
from Value City. They live in Columbus, and they said
they called and asked where the order was because it
hadn't come in, and the person they talked to on
the phone said, yeah, we're not going to get that
probably and we may not even be open in a
(03:47):
couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
WHOA.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
So he sent me a note. We started looking into it,
and then all we needed was the filing, the Chapter
eleven bankruptcy filing that they filed in Delaware, and then
we had this story and it's turned it to a
few more things since then. They've announced that their Columbus
headquarters is going to go, they're cutting jobs, and then
stores are starting to go and they're for sale. They
(04:11):
have a stocking horse asset purchase agreement with ASI Purchaser LLC,
with an option expected to occur in the next forty
five days, something's going to happen. Of course, it's Value
City Furniture here in Columbus, it's known as American Signature Stores. Elsewhere,
this has been operating since the nineteen thirties. It was
in the original basement of Shottenstein's department store, moved its
(04:33):
way up and then got into its own thing became
this furniture. But it's been hard for furniture. Everybody bought furniture,
especially discount furniture, four or five years ago during the pandemic,
and you know, you don't replace furniture that often, and
so big furniture places like Value City and others are
starting to feel that the sales are down. It's harder
(04:55):
to get customers in the door, and then to maintain
your profit urgons is super hard. So yeah, they're closing down.
They've got some stores they announced they're closing, including too
in Ohio, not any in central Ohio yet, cutting more
than three hundred jobs than even the president is going
to lose his job, and that's Jonathan Shottenstein.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, it's unfortunate.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
But again, as you said, the furniture business is difficult
because you know how often do you buy a new
couch and not that often. Yeah, and this also sets up,
as we were talking earlier about a naming right situation
for the Shot, so I assume that'll be reevaluated as well.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, and that could turn into something else within. I mean,
the Shottenstein still own other companies like DSW and the
own American Eagle Outfitters, so they're still in the retail
game and have been. It's just this part of it's
going out, So Value City may probably disappear and you'll
see possibly another Shot and stem Brand go in there.
(05:53):
Not sure at this point. We'll have to wait to
see what OSU decides, what the Shottenstein family decides, and
where this is going to go.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Speaking with Mark Sommerson, Columbus Business first dot Com would
be a great Christmas gift.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It's a subscription, it's a great read.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So make sure you jump on and poke around and
find out what makes sense for you. Columbus Business first
dot Com. Speaking of OSU, the proposed hotel at fifteenth
and High, it looks like it's going to move forward.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah. The University Area Commission and the University Impact District
Review Board, those are both mouthfuls they both have voted
in favor of rezoning to allow a little height increase
for this Crawford Pointing Hotel that is working with Ohio
State University's real estate arm and they're going to build
this at fifteenth and High. It's going to be a
(06:41):
very large hotel. It's a boutique hotel. It's going to
have one hundred and one thousand square feet up to
one hundred and forty five rooms, cafe, fitness center, all
of that stuff at four story wing stretches across fifteenth
Avenue and all it's going to be. I believe eight
story is tall. It's going to be really interesting to
see this go up. And now it's getting all the
(07:03):
approvals that it needs to go before it finally hits
the city of Columbus and then we'll see where that
goes from there. But yeah, Crawford Appoying was named the
partner in this deal. It'll be interesting to see a
university hotel there, or at least the university sponsored hotel
there and apartment complex behind it, because you know, housing
(07:25):
is needed. Students want some better housing. At least that's
what everybody says who's building around there. All these fancy places,
So yeah, you're gonna have more rooms, and you're gonna
have or more units for apartments, and then more hotel
right there too, So it's all gonna happen.
As we switch over to the Legacy Retirement Group dot
com phone line and say good morning to Mark Summerson,
Columbus Business.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
First, Mark, how are you?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I'm good. How are you happy? Wednesday?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah? Happy day before Thanksgiving?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You got a What do you get about a twenty
five pound turkey ready to go tomorrow?
Speaker 3 (00:15):
You know, I didn't look at the size of it.
It looks big. It's sitting in the fridge ready to go. Okay,
I'm guessing it's a little smaller than I'm thinking in
the mid teens. Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
That's that's legit I think of, you know, fifteen to
eighteen pound turkey, depending on how many people are you,
how many people you have coming over.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We have just a total of six, so it's not too.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Perfect perfect number, perfect mass.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Are you in charge of the turkey or do you
do you have some sort of like are you on
pie duty or do you do sides or what you're responsibility?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
No?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I help take stuff out to the table and then
I carve.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
That's okay. Now do you clean? Do you clean up
and do the dishes and all that too.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I will load the dishwasher a few times.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Wow, yes, dish washing my.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
My wife loves to cook, she's really good at it,
and uh so I let her do her stuff. Our
kitchen is not the biggest kitchen in the world, so
it's best that I hang out somewhere else.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
See, that's a great excuse to you know what, Han
I would. I'm here to help, but I'm just gonna
get in your way, you know. So I'm just gonna
go over here and put on football and yeah something,
I'll try that one. Hey, uh boy, it happened a
little quicker than I thought. But the Columbus Crew have
a naming rights for their stadium. It's and we were
speculating on this one last week. Yeah, I should have
(01:36):
guessed Scott's Miracle Grow it was.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
It wasn't on my bingo card.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Makes sense, makes perfect.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
They've already been They've already been a partner with the
Crew for years with their field, and it just makes sense.
I mean, Scott's Miracle Grow. You have this beautiful green
pitch to play on. It just makes sense. So yeah,
they announced last week that they were ending the agreement
they had with lower dot Com to be the name
of the stadium, which it has been since it opened
(02:05):
in twenty twenty one in the Arena district. And yeah,
they they had somebody lined up right away. They told
us they had somebody lined up. We were guessing, of course,
maybe it would be Huntington, maybe it would be Anderill,
maybe it would be Nationwide or even you know, Wendy's
or something. But no, Hey, Scott's Miracle Grow And it
makes sense. I mean grass and all that.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I had my money on cover my Med's field, but
I guess that didn't work out.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
And you know, not this time.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
So I got to wonder, though, what are they gonna
call it?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Because, oh, you know, miracle grow field.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Right, It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue though. And
you know how fans are they, They tend to shorten
things and use some sort of vernacular.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So I mean, it's a Scott's just Scott's field.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Just Scott's field, why not?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Or smg img.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Yeah, I mean we're just miracle the miracle off.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I like Scott's or SMG field that that rolls off
the tongue. See, guys like me, we've got to say
this every week. See you get just to type it,
we got to actually spit it out.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
You know. It's like like.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
A Value City arena inside the Jerome Schottenstein Center. It's
his stag doesn't roll off the tongue, which that's The
next story is Value City Furniture closing their Columbus headquarters
and cutting some jobs after the bankruptcy.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah. Actually I heard from a friend last week who said, Hey,
just a heads up. We had ordered a kitchen table
from Value City. They live in Columbus, and they said
they called and asked where the order was because it
hadn't come in, and the person they talked to on
the phone said, yeah, we're not going to get that
probably and we may not even be open in a
(03:47):
couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
WHOA.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
So he sent me a note. We started looking into it,
and then all we needed was the filing, the Chapter
eleven bankruptcy filing that they filed in Delaware, and then
we had this story and it's turned it to a
few more things since then. They've announced that their Columbus
headquarters is going to go, they're cutting jobs, and then
stores are starting to go and they're for sale. They
(04:11):
have a stocking horse asset purchase agreement with ASI Purchaser LLC,
with an option expected to occur in the next forty
five days, something's going to happen. Of course, it's Value
City Furniture here in Columbus, it's known as American Signature Stores. Elsewhere,
this has been operating since the nineteen thirties. It was
in the original basement of Shottenstein's department store, moved its
(04:33):
way up and then got into its own thing became
this furniture. But it's been hard for furniture. Everybody bought furniture,
especially discount furniture, four or five years ago during the pandemic,
and you know, you don't replace furniture that often, and
so big furniture places like Value City and others are
starting to feel that the sales are down. It's harder
(04:55):
to get customers in the door, and then to maintain
your profit urgons is super hard. So yeah, they're closing down.
They've got some stores they announced they're closing, including too
in Ohio, not any in central Ohio yet, cutting more
than three hundred jobs than even the president is going
to lose his job, and that's Jonathan Shottenstein.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, it's unfortunate.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
But again, as you said, the furniture business is difficult
because you know how often do you buy a new
couch and not that often. Yeah, and this also sets up,
as we were talking earlier about a naming right situation
for the Shot, so I assume that'll be reevaluated as well.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, and that could turn into something else within. I mean,
the Shottenstein still own other companies like DSW and the
own American Eagle Outfitters, so they're still in the retail
game and have been. It's just this part of it's
going out, So Value City may probably disappear and you'll
see possibly another Shot and stem Brand go in there.
(05:53):
Not sure at this point. We'll have to wait to
see what OSU decides, what the Shottenstein family decides, and
where this is going to go.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Speaking with Mark Sommerson, Columbus Business first dot Com would
be a great Christmas gift.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It's a subscription, it's a great read.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So make sure you jump on and poke around and
find out what makes sense for you. Columbus Business first
dot Com. Speaking of OSU, the proposed hotel at fifteenth
and High, it looks like it's going to move forward.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah. The University Area Commission and the University Impact District
Review Board, those are both mouthfuls they both have voted
in favor of rezoning to allow a little height increase
for this Crawford Pointing Hotel that is working with Ohio
State University's real estate arm and they're going to build
this at fifteenth and High. It's going to be a
(06:41):
very large hotel. It's a boutique hotel. It's going to
have one hundred and one thousand square feet up to
one hundred and forty five rooms, cafe, fitness center, all
of that stuff at four story wing stretches across fifteenth
Avenue and all it's going to be. I believe eight
story is tall. It's going to be really interesting to
see this go up. And now it's getting all the
(07:03):
approvals that it needs to go before it finally hits
the city of Columbus and then we'll see where that
goes from there. But yeah, Crawford Appoying was named the
partner in this deal. It'll be interesting to see a
university hotel there, or at least the university sponsored hotel
there and apartment complex behind it, because you know, housing
(07:25):
is needed. Students want some better housing. At least that's
what everybody says who's building around there. All these fancy places,
So yeah, you're gonna have more rooms, and you're gonna
have or more units for apartments, and then more hotel
right there too, So it's all gonna happen.
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