Tariffs lead owner toward planned closure of local furniture store

MERRIAM, Kan. (KCTV) - On Wednesday, President Donald Trump is expected to announce broad, reciprocal tariffs that will go into effect immediately.

Trump promises to reshape U.S, trade policies in a way that will benefit Americans, but many economists don’t see it that way.

They predict the tariffs will lead to high prices for U.S consumers and a potential slowdown of the American and global economies.

Small local businesses, like My Home Contemporary Furniture in Merriam, Kansas, are already feeling the effects.

The store located at 5400 Antioch Drive will be closing for good.

The furniture store has been serving the community for four years, but owner Henrik Svendsen said the uncertainty of tariffs on imported goods is the reason they are making the difficult decision.

Svendsen said 99% of all the products they carry are imported and Svendsen said they just can’t risk it.

“I don’t see any future with the high tariffs to keep the store,” he said.

Right now, Svendsen already pays a 25% tariff on furniture they get from China, but with the new tariffs the Trump administration is planning to add, Svendsen said it will be impossible to afford.

“When I order a whole container from Italy it’s $100,000. If there are 25% tariffs on that, I pay $25,000 more,” he explained, “I have to add it to the consumer, it’s not something that I can absorb.”

That means the new tariffs won’t only affect importers but also customers having to pay more for furniture since Svendsen said most of the furniture in the U.S. is imported.

“A nice reclining sectional from Italy that we now sell for $8,000, if he does impose the 25% tariffs on Italy, we would have to sell it for $10,000.

With many years under his belt in this industry, Svendsen said he never saw this coming and fears he won’t be the only one forced to close down.

“It’s going to outprice the product and it’s never going to come back to the U.S. where it’s going to be produced here.”

“Seeing a small business shut their doors is heartbreaking and infuriating,” said Sharice Davids, U.S Representative D-KS 3rd District.

Rep. Davids has been speaking out against the way the president is approaching the issue and said this is just one example of real impacts we will start to see.

“Creating massive uncertainty for particularly small businesses, it can have devastating impacts across our entire economy, especially in Kansas City, we know that small businesses are the backbone of our economy.”

Davids has been trying to figure out ways to get Republican colleagues in the house to alert the administration of what this level of uncertainty can have.

“If the tariffs go into effect in the way that the president is talking about tomorrow, we’re definitely going to see skyrocket prices,” said Davids, “and this is already dealing with high grocery prices, high gas prices. Folks can’t even afford eggs much less their prescription drugs.”

KCTV5 did request an interview with Kansas Republican Senator, Jerry Moran, but was told he wasn’t available for an interview.

My Home Contemporary Furniture said it will officially close its doors in August.

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