Linder's Furniture finds new home in Rancho Cucamonga

New life is emerging in a furniture district that hasn't bustled with activity since the housing bubble burst.
Linder's Furniture just opened its largest store in the 50,000-square-foot former Wickes Furniture building in Rancho Cucamonga, just across Fourth Street from Ontario Mills.

"We've been looking out here (in the Inland Valley) for a long time," said Eric Foucrier, president of the Garden Grove-based company, which now has 10 stores across Southern California. "With real estate values adjusting, we felt it was a good time to get into this market."

Foucrier wouldn't say whether Linder's is renting the building or has purchased it, but he said the former facility was Wickes' No. 1 selling site when it was in business.

As two of the economy's first furniture industry victims when the housing market imploded in late 2007, both Wickes and Levitz Furniture filed for bankruptcy.

Around the same time, Salmos Custom Sofas and several other furniture stores doing business in Ontario-Rancho Cucamonga's furniture row shut their doors.

It's left plenty of market share for the more stable shops - Living Spaces, Bassett Home Furnishings and Mathis Brothers Furniture.

However, Linder's fills a special niche, Foucrier says.

Stocked full of tables, couches, mattresses and other homey creature comforts, the store also boasts LCD and plasma-screen TVs, along with the latest technological accessories.