One of the city’s largest and oldest furniture stores will close by year’s end.

Officials with Marlings Home Furnishings said Monday that they had decided to leave the Lawrence market once the lease expires on Dec. 31 at their store at 27th and Iowa streets.

“Lawrence residents want to shop in Kansas City. That’s really the bottom line,” said Jon Anderson, vice president of the family-owned company that has had a store in Lawrence since 1971.

The company will continue to operate its store in Topeka, Anderson said. But he said sales numbers at the Lawrence store did not justify keeping the business open. He declined to comment on how much sales were off. He also declined to blame the entire drop-off on the opening last year of Nebraska Furniture Mart near the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

But the gigantic furniture store, which is about a 25-minute drive from Lawrence, didn’t help Marlings.

“It has been a gradual thing. We have probably seen a decline over the last 10 years,” Anderson said. “There were major players in Kansas City before Nebraska Furniture Mart, but that maybe was the final straw.”

The economic downturn following the 9-11 terrorist attacks also was to blame, Anderson said.

“Before 9-11 we were selling to people who were making money on the stock market,” Anderson said. “After 9-11, people were still buying furniture, but they wanted the absolute cheapest furniture. People wanted to buy a $1,000 couch for $400. There’s just not the profit margin to do that in this business.”

The closing will affect about 15 employees who work at the Lawrence store. Anderson said the company would offer them positions at the Topeka store.

Mack Morgan, left, helps Dorothy Davis, Lawrence, who is looking at a Bassett sofa at Marlings Home Furnishings store, 27th and Iowa streets. Company officials announced Monday that they would close the Lawrence store by year's end.

Others in the Lawrence furniture market said they also had noticed a larger number of area residents who were taking their business to Kansas City.

Wayne Martin, owner of Kansas Furniture Factory Outlet, 708 Conn., said business had been tougher since Nebraska Furniture Mart opened its 450,000-square-foot store in August 2003.

“We’re kind of seeing the Wal-Mart syndrome,” Martin said. “I think we’ll probably see some more shrinkage in the Lawrence market. I’m OK here because my overhead is pretty low, but I’m afraid others won’t be.”

Anderson said Marlings’ Topeka store hadn’t experienced the same problem of losing customers to the metro area.

“Business is good here,” Anderson said. “That’s why we decided that we’re just going to move back to Topeka and focus on the community that is supporting us. I think it is real disappointing that a community the size of Lawrence couldn’t support a store our size. Lawrence really has become a bedroom community.”