“I’m very disappointed for the company, and I’m very disappointed for the community,” Graham said. “It’s a very traumatic thing for the people who work there.”
City Administrator Walter Denton said O’Fallon leaders are bracing for the blow of the lost revenue from the electronics and furniture chain.
“Sales taxes have been stable, but the closing of American TV will be a blow,” Denton said. “We don’t know exactly how much sales tax they generated annually — the state will not tell us. But they are one of the top 15 sales tax businesses in O’Fallon.
Denton said no city cuts or layoffs are being planned. But city leaders are trying to stay on top of the situation. He’s hoping new business starts currently in development will help to make up for the lost sales tax money.
“We are not making any immediate budget cuts, but we will definitely monitor the monthly sales tax reports for possible adjustments,” Denton said. “The City Council has approved several new stores — Weil Lombardo trailers, AutoZone, DQ Grill Chill — that may make up some of the losses.”
Denton said interest in bringing new business to O’Fallon, which was slow in 2009 and 2010, continues to be on the upswing in 2011.
“We recently received an application for a strip center on Regency Park Drive across from the conference center that will house a Bella Milano Restaurant and the Egg and I Restaurant. We have also been in conversation with several other possibilities that may or may not come through.”
Bella Milano is an Edwardsville-based Italian restaurant and Egg and I is a Colorado-based breakfast eatery.
American Furniture and Appliance, which is based in Madison, Wis., opened four stores — including the one in O’Fallon — in the St. Louis area in 2004. The company announced June 1 that it would close those stores because sales there never recovered following the national recession and that the St. Louis area has been slower to recover and other parts of the country. American has 11 other locations across the Midwest which will remain open.
Graham said he’s confident a new store will open at the American Furniture and Appliance spot.
“That’s a great building and a great location,” he said.
