The KRONHEIM FURNITURE CO. is one of Greater Cleveland's leading furniture stores. Founder Jacob Kronheim came to Cleveland in 1902 from Austria-Hungary and worked as an upholsterer until 1918, when he opened his own shop at Woodland Ave. and E. 37th St. While he built a reputation on honest workmanship and materials, he also developed several patented upholstering processes which became distinctive features of his furniture. Shortly after World War I, Kronheim established a factory with about 20 employees on Quincy Ave. near E. 77th St. and opened his first retail store at 2043 E. 55th St. In the early 1930s, Kronheim consulted with the Emil M. Friedman, Max Amster, and Joseph J. Tronstein, experts in capitalization and merchandizing, to further develop the company's retail outlets. With the opening of a downtown store on Euclid Ave. in 1934, Kronheim had two stores, two factories, and a warehouse in Cleveland to sell living-room furniture and odd pieces of upholstered furnishings directly from the factory to the consumer.
In the 1940s, Jacob Kronheim sold the business to a group of investors and in 1963 the company changed hands again; this time purchased by a group of investors headed by Lawrence Koreness and Eugene Phinick. By that time, Kronheim's had over 100 employees, and under new management, Kronheim's expanded by adding more retail outlets with a larger variety of home furnishings into the next decade. The firm added a large warehouse at 1814 E. 40th St. in 1972, which became its headquarters. With the city's population declining in the 1980s, however, the company closed some of its inner-city retail stores, and in 1997, Kronheim's removed its final presence in the city of Cleveland when the company relocated its headquarters from 1814 E. 40th St. to a new facility in BEDFORD HTS.. In 1999, Kronheim's opened a Furniture Outlet Store to to sell discounted closeout, sample, and discontinued items in BROOKLYN . An additional discount outlet store was opened the following year in Eastlake. By 2003, Kronheim's had stores in Bedford Heights, NORTH OLMSTED , MIDDLEBURG , and Mentor, in addition to its two discount outlet centers.