WEST LEBANON — A Claremont-based furniture store has opened a new location in the Interchange Drive building that was formerly home to Brown Furniture, which closed abruptly last spring leaving customers without furniture they had paid for.
Since the soft opening of the new store on March 21, there has been a steady flow of curious customers every day and several orders placed, owner April Love, of Claremont, said.
Love owns two furniture stores in Claremont, including Love’s Furniture and Bedding, which opened in 1996, and Cash & Carry Furniture, which the Love family took over in 2011.
The stores differ from one another in the style of furniture offered. Love’s in Claremont showcases antique-style pieces with a boutique feel. Cash & Carry offers more rustic, country-esque pieces. Inventory at the new store has an urban design, said Love.
“We really put a lot of thought into it, as far as what we were missing in the marketplace and what we could develop,” said Love.
Phil Desmond, a previous owner of Brown Furniture before Nelson, owns the property and has leased it to Love; he declined to share details of the agreement when reached Wednesday by phone. Love said that the length of the lease is longer than one year, but declined to share further details about the agreement.
While the new store brings fresh furniture options to the heart of the Upper Valley, some customers never received their orders from Brown Furniture despite paying money up front. The Attorney General’s office received 85 complaints, Michael Garrity, the Department of Justice’s spokesman, said Wednesday by email.
The New Hampshire Consumer Protection & Antitrust Bureau is investigating the complaints, said Garrity. Due to the ongoing investigation, Garrity declined to comment on the total funds customers say went missing and whether there has been any relief for them.
It has left people such as Carol Rousseau, of Bethel, in limbo. It was January 2025 when Rousseau ordered a sofa from Brown Furniture and provided a down payment of $650, half the cost of the item, she said Wednesday by phone. The anticipated delivery date was a few weeks later.
“I’m a recent widow and was trying to give myself something new to lift my spirits up a bit. I’ve always bought my couches from Brown’s,” said Rousseau. Brown Furniture had been a staple in the Upper Valley since 1940.
Rousseau called and left messages multiple times asking for the status of her sofa in April of last year. At the store, she got different stories from different employees every time. On April 20, Rousseau went to the store and spoke with Brad Nelson, Brown Furniture’s latest owner, requesting a refund.
He wrote her a check for the $650.
“And it bounced,” she said.
Rousseau’s bank reported insufficient funds when she attempted to cash the check. When she went to the store to inquire about this issue, it was shuttered.
Amid financial difficulties and a backlog of $1 million in furniture orders, Nelson closed the store temporarily on April 30, 2025, with an intent to restructure the business, he told the Valley News last spring. But it never reopened.
Nelson did not respond by deadline to a phone message and email seeking comment.
Rousseau filed a report with Lebanon Police, who wrote her a letter last June stating that her complaint was transferred to the state’s Consumer Protection & Antitrust Bureau, which is part of the Department of Justice, for further review and possible action.
Rousseau received a call from the state shortly after, notifying her that it received her complaint. She has not heard from anyone since then.
Nelson told the Valley News last May that he estimates $300,000 was returned to customers by credit card companies, though it remained his debt to pay. He added that there was never any intent of fraud, and his business simply failed.
In an effort to raise money, last spring Nelson created a social media campaign and GoFundMe to “Help save Brown’s 85-year legacy.”
“I’ve burned through everything that I’ve got trying to make sure that I can keep this business running,” Nelson said in a video last spring.
The GoFundMe raised more than $68,000 in donations. The purpose of the fund, Nelson wrote on the page, was to pay employees back wages due, cover debts and get the inventory and backlog cleared up so customers could get the products they ordered.
The GoFundMe donations did not allow the store to reopen. Despite not quite reaching the GoFundMe goal of $75,000, Nelson paused the campaign after compensating employees due to legal advice, he wrote on the page.
Some customers who never got their furniture found Nelson’s efforts insulting.
“The whole world was seeing him paint himself as this underdog,” Caitlin Hopkins, of Springfield, Vt. said Wednesday via Facebook Messenger.
Instead, Hopkins said, “Brad Nelson should do prison time for fraud.”
She had ordered a sofa, a queen-size mattress and two twin-size mattresses from Brown Furniture, spending a total of $4,300.
Ultimately, her bank reversed the charges, and she ended up buying those items from Aumands in Walpole, N.H., which she said cost about half the price.
“Mascoma was good to us, but it was definitely a lot of paperwork having to write for them exactly what happened,” Hopkins said.
Love’s Furniture Loft slowly began moving into the space last year, a process that continued until opening last month. The new store is a separate company with no legal relationship to Brown Furniture, Love said.
“We’ve been solid in this area for a long time. So, I think that’s what the difference is, there’s some stability,” said Love.
