News Roundup

Doerr Furniture Reopens after $1M Expansion, Renovation

City Business
By CityBusiness staff report

2007-04-12 9:45 AM CST

NEW ORLEANS - Doerr Furniture today unveiled a $1-million expansion and renovation of its store at 914 Elysian Fields, where the company has been headquartered for 69 years.

The company reopened the site after Hurricane Katrina. It was later closed to expand the showroom and renovate, including emphasizing original architectural details, such as a recently discovered tiled floor that dates to 1917.

Customers will now enter through the original 1938 entrance. The façade has new landscaping.

“Small, family-operated and locally-owned businesses like Doerr have marked the progression of New Orleans as a city. After Hurricane Katrina we wanted to demonstrate that better and bigger than ever,” said David Mutter, vice president of Doerr. “Doerr is committed to New Orleans and the Faubourg Marigny. Our family has and will continue to invest in this community. Our renovation is only the beginning of our rebirth as a business and a community. We hope that other small businesses in New Orleans will continue to invest and restore the city to its Old Town charm and prosperity.”

City officials and the Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association thanked Doerr for its commitment to the community.

“New Orleans was once filled with New Orleans family-owned and operated businesses. Now is time to celebrate Doerr’s decision to stay and expand right where it’s been since it opened in 1938,” said James Carter, District C councilman.

“Doerr and businesses like it will preserve the integrity of the surrounding community and will be a signal for the continued recovery of one of the most historic areas in our city,” said Chris Costello, president of the Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association, which is working to entice more business development in the area.

Doerr, which employs 45 full-time workers, was founded by Charles Louis Doerr, who began manufacturing and selling cane rocking chairs out of his garage in Old Metairie.

He purchased a location on 2109 Burgundy St. in 1938 to open a wholesale furniture store. He later expanded the storefront to encompass the Elysian Fields entrance and converted it to a retail furniture store in the 1950s.

Following his retirement, Doerr’s daughter Marilyn Mutter and her husband Lloyd Mutter took over the business.