BATON ROUGE - A popular furniture store is closing its doors for good after 66 years of business. But Gerard Ruth is not slowing down giving orders, greeting customers, or selling furniture.

“When I was a kid I worked at helping my mamma and my daddy out in a little neighborhood furniture store at Lord Furniture on North Boulevard,” Ruth told WBRZ.

Ruth was only 17-years-old when it all began in a little warehouse. Soon after helping his family with their furniture business, he would find himself running his own just two years later.

“I am 87 now, so you know how many years that is,” Ruth laughed.

It's been 70 years since he has been in the business, and 52 since he opened Gerard’s Furniture back in 1966. Throughout those years, he has made big contributions to the community, including helping out with the 2016 floods.

“We helped a lot of churches, we sent a lot of furniture to them and helped a lot of veterans.” 

The Korean War Veteran says his store is very special compared to others in the capital city.

“The people in the furniture industry came to all the stores in the country and they ranked us as one of the top home furniture centers in the United States.”

He says it's all about having variety.

“Our business was complete. In other words, we had furniture, we had accessories, we had art work, we had prints, and we had originals.”

With seventy years in the furniture business, Gerard Ruth says he is not ready to leave, but all the furniture has to go.

“It will take me a while to deliver things and get cleared out, but they most likely will find me back there behind a sofa or something because I will be here working.”

Ruth and his family decided to close the shop because of his health. He says it should take two or three months to liquidate all items.