For almost 70 years, the Jewish-owned family business of Bussey’s Upholstery Foam ‘N’ Fabric has served the community at 2311 Lee Road, selling fabric for upholstery, slip-covers and drapery, and foam for cushions and mattresses.
Walking into the storefront and down the tall aisles with fabrics of all colors and patterns on either side, Mark and Marlene Bussey greet each customer.
Now, the Busseys are preparing to sell the building and move the business to the west side of Cleveland, near Lorain Avenue and West 210th Street.
“It got to the point where it was hard to keep up with the expenses of the building, and so we decided to sell,” Mark Bussey told the Cleveland Jewish News Aug. 4.
His father, Irving Bussey, started the family business on St. Clair Avenue and East 123rd Street before moving to the Cleveland Heights location in 1954 and expanding into the next door unit in 1975.
In 1971, when his father took ownership of the Lee Road building, Bussey joined his family business after graduating from Cleveland Heights High School and became a part-owner in 1977. He married his wife, Marlene, in 1984 and she joined the family business, which was incorporated in 1987.
The Busseys, who have two daughters, Irene and Emily, are members of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple in Beachwood, and will stay in their South Euclid home while operating the business on the west side.
“Everything should be out of here by (Aug. 15),” he said. “And while we’re still here, we’ll still have limited selection of whatever is left at the time if somebody comes in.”
Beginning the move on Aug. 8, the Busseys expect to reopen in November once everything is organized at the new location.
Bussey said he listed the building in 2019 just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but an initial offer from someone looking to turn the location into a restaurant fell through as the restaurant industry took a hit from the pandemic.
“We managed to stay busy during that time, and business has been increasing in the past couple of years,” Bussey said. “People were wearing out their furniture staying home.”
As he prepares for the move, Bussey looks forward to continuing to do “the same things that I’m doing here now. I like to upholstery, I like doing the sewing, cushions, small things like kitchen chairs, dining room chairs, and then we have other upholsters that do the big, more complicated stuff.”
Pending the closure of the sale on Aug. 15, the Lee Road building will become home base for Jason and Anco Davis from Atlanta to operate their businesses.
“When I saw the Bussey building, I really liked the look of it, and I started investigating the Cleveland Heights area and realized that it really checked off a lot of the boxes for the kind of lifestyle that we wanted to have,” Jason Davis, who works at the Israeli startup, Feedvisor, told the CJN.
The Davises operate two businesses – Real Sic, selling enamel pins, keychains, hair accessories and socks, and Sparkle Being, a mom, baby and home shop – selling their products through Amazon and to retail stores.
They began their search for a commercial building as their family, with the addition of 16-month-old Olivia, and their business began to outgrow their Atlanta home.
The Davises plan to move into the building in October following some renovations to make the space work for their needs. They expect to use one unit for picking and packing and opening the other up as a retail store front, either selling their own products and possibly offering an inexpensive shipping service, or renting it out to another business.
“We are trying to take it one step at a time,” Davis said. “There will be a retail store front, it might be us, we might rent it to someone else. We would like to provide that shipping service to the community.”