The retailer will open inside the former Ashley Furniture Homestore on Churn Creek Road in the Target shopping center.

A sign on the front door Thursday announced Evans’ impending arrival. Vans delivering rolls of carpet were parked outside the store.

Evans Furniture is expected to open May 25, co-owner Harry Swinney said.

“Based on my research, I believe we will be able to bring a little more of an exciting store, a fresher style that people are not used to seeing in that market,” said Swinney, whose late grandfather Mark Evans started the business.

The Redding store will employ about 16 people and be open seven days a week.

Evans Furniture also opened in Chico inside a former Ashley Furniture location in October, about two months after Ashley closed there.

Swinney characterized his company’s move to Chico as a “nervous decision,” which is why it waited before coming to Redding.

Before Evans opened in Chico, Swinney said, people from Chico drove to Yuba City to shop.

“Now that we have a store in Chico, we have quite a few customers from Redding,” Swinney said.

Evans will offer an array of price points with a large selection of couches starting around $400. Dining room sets and about 12 different bedroom sets also will be on display in Redding, Swinney said.

Sales at Evans in 2011 are ahead of last year, but Swinney said 2010 was a very difficult year.

Kuebler’s Furniture Marketing Director Bil Woodford welcomed the competition that Evans Furniture will bring to Redding. Kuebler’s has a store on Churn Creek Road and has been in Shasta County since 1989.

“It is a good thing when other stores come to town,” Woodford said. “Whether there is enough business to go around, I am not sure.”

Ashley Furniture closed in Redding in August in the wake of an investigation by authorities of its business practices.

Both the Redding and Chico stores were owned by Robert and Vera Myers of Chico.

Ashley’s parent company, Ashley Furniture Industries of Wisconsin, had to step in and start delivering orders to customers in Redding and Chico weeks before the stores closed when the Myerses were unable to deliver merchandise.

District attorneys’ offices in Shasta and Butte counties have been investigating the Ashley stores in Redding and Chico, prompted by customer complaints about furniture that didn’t arrive and concerns that refunds were not given.

The investigation in Shasta County still hasn’t concluded, District Attorney

Steve Carlton said Thursday. The Ashley investigation was launched by Carlton’s predecessor, Jerry Benito.

“We are still dealing with getting restitution to victims,” Carlton said. “We haven’t heard from some of the victims on whether or not they have been made whole.”

Carlton said it is unlikely the Myerses will be prosecuted, but he wouldn’t rule it out until the investigation is concluded.

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