Archie "Art" Van Elslander founded Art Van in 1959, opening his first store in East Detroit. Van Elslander's furniture first business was a 4,000 square-foot space on Gratiot Avenueand 10Mile Road. He expanded to three stores in that same year, and a fourth store opened in 1960. His first employee was not hired until this time. Art Vans Furniture opened with mostly modern and Danish-style furniture. By 1963, Van Elslander owned seven stores and had taken on some partners, including his brother, Bob Van Elslander, Don Fox and Bob McEachin. The following year, three of those stores were sold off, however Van Elslander expanded the chain in the 1970s and in 1973 the company purchased its headquarters in Warren, Michigan. Around that time, the company had fifteen stores in its chain. In the late 1970s opened several warehouses and a corporate training department. In 1977 the company opened stores outside of Detroit, in Flint, Michigan and Lansing, Michigan. In 1980, the company issued its first credit card and in 1985 the company introduced clearance centers attached to many of the stores offering overstocked merchandise. In 2009, the company's half-centennial, Art Van Furniture was named furniture retailer of the year by Furniture Today magazine. In 2013, the company made a $50 million investment in the state of Illinois to open a sequence of new establishments in the state. In 2015 Patti Smith wrote about Art Van stores as a favorite hang-out of hers during the 1970s. The current CEO of the company is Gary Fazio. Art Van also operates Scott Shuptrine Interiors retail locations. In March 2017 the company was purchased by Thomas H. Lee Partners, a private equity firm based in Boston. On March 5, 2020, the company announced that it would be closing all of its company-owned stores as it plans to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The stores were forced to close early due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
Stores
The company operated 141 stores located in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri and a full service e-commerce website, with an additional 45 freestanding Art Van PureSleep bedding stores. The company also had franchised stores located in the Midwest. In 2010, Art Van acquired Brewbaker's Furniture, which had locations in Petoskey and Onaway. The Onaway store was closed in 2013. The first franchise was opened within Young's Appliance of Alpena in 2012. In all the company had nearly 200 stores. Art Van had partnered with Paul's TV to open a section for Paul's TV to sell televisions inside Art Van stores. Eighteen locations were opened, however all were closed down by 2015. Other boutique sections have included AV Flooring, and Art Van Furniture also operates three Scott Shuptrine interior design studios in the state of Michigan. Art Van also produced a mail catalog of its furniture offerings.
Marketing
In 2015 the company paid out $2.5 million dollars in free furniture to 3000 customers after a promotion that gave away the purchases of customers if it snowed three inches each in the cities of Toledo, Fort Wayne, and Chicago. In 2016, Art Van replaced its regional Super Bowl advertisements in the Detroit and Grand Rapids areas with a thank you message for donors of water to Flint, Michigan, which the company had solicited through its charitable programs.
