Lana Heitmanek has been working at her family’s furniture store since she was a child. As the fourth-generation owner of Beidelman Furniture, the business has always been a part of her life.
“I grew up always hearing about the store because my father worked here, and to be honest, I always kind of thought of it as an entity, like a person,” she said. “It was like there were all of us, you know, my mother and my father, my siblings and other relatives, and then there was the store.”
For 165 years, the furniture store located at the corner of Washington Street and Jackson Avenue in downtown Naperville has been a notable fixture in the city and is currently the oldest business in DuPage County.
Beidelman to close due to rising operational costs
After more than a century and a half in business, Beidelman will be closing its doors on April 29, owners Lana and her daughter, Katy, announced last week.
“Operating expenses have gotten so high just everywhere that we’re really no longer able to provide the service that we’ve been providing all these years economically at this point,” said fifth-generation owner Katy Heitmanek.
While the decision to close did not come easily, the owners said it had been on their minds for some time now.
“It’s time. It’s a good time, and I feel like we’re going out with a bang and not a fizzle,” said Lana.
Five generations of furniture sales
The business first opened in 1861, established by Fred Long, a cabinetmaker, who later sold it to his nephew, OJ Beidelman.
It was then passed down to his son, Owen “Dutch” Beidelman, Lana’s father. He built the business’s Gothic Collegiate-style, three-story building in 1928 on the site of an older structure O.J. had built.
The building notably features the first elevator in Naperville.
“It was nice because a lot of people, older people…or people in wheelchairs, would come in and they wanted to go upstairs. Because of the elevator, we were able to take them to the different floors,” said Lana.
Lana began working part-time at the store in high school, and with her family, watched the city evolve over the years from their corner on the street.
It’s something she says she’ll miss the most.
“There’s always interesting people walking by. It’s a very busy corner. My father came down here just until the year before he died, and he was 97 when he died. He would come down here towards the end of his life and just sit in the window here and really enjoy watching everything go by,” she said.
After her father’s death in 2000, she took over the business, and in 2013, Katy became a co-owner.
The fifth-generation furniture seller said running the business allowed her to connect with those in her community.
“Furniture is a really kind of personal thing…You’re buying it when you’re moving into a new place and excited, or you’re getting a divorce, you’re devastated, you know, [or] you just moved to town. It’s really been wonderful to be a part of people’s lives,” said Katy.
Landmark status preserves aspects of the building
The store’s closure comes less than two years after Beidelman was designated as a landmark, becoming the first commercial building in Naperville to gain the designation.
While the building has been sold, Katy said the landmark status will help preserve some aspects of it under new ownership.
“If somebody wants to change the facade of the building, that has to go through a process that’s more specific than the normal new construction building process and involves keeping things architecturally appropriate for the time period that the building was built,” she said.
Community bids farewell to Beidelman Furniture
With the end of an era just around the corner, customers old and new have been visiting the store, perusing the now-only two floors of furniture. The third floor currently sits empty and closed off.
As they browsed, guests offered well-wishes to the owners, whom some described as their friends.
“Lana and Katy are the most genuine people you could ever want to associate with, not only with business, but with a pleasure to come in here and do shopping. I feel sorry for them that, after all these years, they’re closing. But I understand why. Since 1861, it’s time to relax and retire,” said Al Larose, a Naperville resident and longtime customer of Beidelman Furniture.
The Heitmaneks expressed their gratitude to their customers and the city of Naperville for more than a century and a half of support.
“We have gotten so many wonderful compliments, really zero negativity from people that have shopped here, and people that know us, and just the whole town has been great in that. That part of it is very positive. I feel like we really contributed something to the making of Naperville,” said Lana.
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