CALUMET – A long-time Calumet business is closing after nearly 30 years, but the owners are staying in the area and will continue to operate a couple of other businesses they own.

Tony Galerneau, who along with his wife, Janice, owns Rowe Furniture on Fifth Street in Calumet, said they felt now was the best time for them to get out of the furniture business.

“The economic conditions haven’t been the best,” he said. “We’re getting to where we want to retire.”

Galerneau said the cold and snowy winters of 2012-13 and 2013-14 seriously reduced the foot traffic that came into the store. Also, other businesses in downtown Calumet have either recently closed or are about to close, which further reduced the number of people shopping downtown.

Janice’s father, Ken Rowe, started Rowe Furniture in 1988, Galerneau said. Ken Rowe also owned the Calumet United Van Lines and decided since he had the truck, he could occasionally buy furniture wherever he was making deliveries and bring it back to Calumet to sell. The first furniture store was on Red Jacket Road in a building now owned by the Keweenaw National Historical Park.

Galerneau said Ken Rowe transferred the business to Janice’s brother Kurt Rowe, and they bought it from him in 2006.

“He had something else he wanted to do,” Galerneau said.

Except for the situation recently, Galerneau said the furniture business has been generally stable over the years Rowe Furniture been in the village.

“It’s been good,” he said.

He and Janice did consider moving the furniture store to another location, Galerneau said, but decided against it. They own Midtown Sit n Sleep, a bedding store on Sharon Avenue in Houghton, which they will continue to operate. They also will continue their flooring business, which they operate out of a warehouse in the Calumet industrial park.

“We’re just going to move out of the furniture business,” he said.

Galerneau said there will be a store-closing sale beginning 10 a.m. Saturday. They will also be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, and noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

“We’ll have the sale as long as long as there is inventory to sell,” he said.

However, Galerneau said there is another possibility.

“If somebody wanted to buy the business, we would sell the business,” he said.

He and Janice own the building on Fifth Street, Galerneau said, and it’s for sale. The showroom is 5,000 square feet, and although there’s nothing on the second floor now, it could be made into apartments or something else.

“There’s a lot of potential for a business,” he said. “We would love to see something stay up here.”