Suppliers say Charlotte furniture store abruptly closed without paying them

Customers and suppliers alike are complaining that a South End furniture store abruptly closed while owing them merchandise or payments totaling thousands of dollars.

Reinvented Charlotte sold new furniture, some of it handmade, and vintage pieces until it closed in June and never reopened. Its Facebook page has gone dark, but one for “fraud victims” has been created.

Greenville, S.C., furniture maker Cameron Holbrooks said last week that store owner Michael Lankford hasn’t paid him for three dining room tables worth $9,400 retail, two of which had been sold. “I have probably called about 30 times,” he said.

Last week, Holbrooks said, Lankford texted him that “I have had to (shut) the business because it is bankrupt. I am working with my attorney to see how I might work on paying people. I don’t have any answers at this time unfortunately.”

Customers said Lankford reopened the store last Thursday and Saturday, and that at least some were able to retrieve their merchandise.

A 2017 article in CharlotteFive said furniture and vintage items the store sells are scouted by “pickers” who shop auctions, yard and estate sales.

The voicemail of Lankford’s cell phone was full Monday morning, and the store phone had a busy signal. A message to the store’s email address wasn’t answered.

Denver, N.C., artist Feather Bates said Friday that she had sold her paintings through the store for about a year. Reinvented Charlotte now owes her $550 for two paintings, she said, and Bates is trying to reclaim two other paintings worth $400 each that are being used to stage a house for sale.

She said Lankford told her this month that he didn’t have the money to pay her but was working with a lawyer to see that everyone is paid. With her husband unable to work because of illness and two toddlers, Bates said her earnings support her family and she can’t afford to hire a lawyer.

“I thought it was a great opportunity,” she said of the store. “He’s actually sold a lot of pieces for me and we never had a problem until the past two months.”

Public records show a $1,900 judgment against Lankford by a credit card company in 2016 and a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Oregon in 2002.

Researcher Maria Albrough contributed.

This story was originally published July 16, 2018 at 12:00 AM.