What happened to Full House Antiques?

A tipster says the high-end consignment store closed -- with clients' merchandise hanging in the balance

Full House Antiques, a consignment store on 3rd Avenue and East 80th Street, specialized in high-end furniture, brought in by local customers, with sales being split between customers and the store.

At least that's the way it's supposed to work.

An angry customer called Our Town last week after walking by the store, only to find it "room-swept clean." A note on the door remained, with a phone number for information. Dialing the number goes straight to voicemail. The store's website has also recently been shut down.

"They had my stuff for over a year," said the customer, who had been growing impatient, but didn't want to be a bother. "I figured they were doing me the favor."

Eventually, the flustered customer received a reply, letting him know that his belongings were in a warehouse in Riverdale.

Full House was still trying to organize everyone's pieces. There was no address given for the warehouse, nor a time-table for expected returns. It's almost been a month and the customer still hasn't received his items.

Rumors have been flying and area businesses have been asked by passersby if they know what happened. "They'd been there for two or three years," said the owner of an adjacent building. "Then one day, they had a bunch of moving vans come and take everything away. They pulled a quick one."

The move occurred in a single afternoon with no announcement that they were closing.

According to David Kriss, the property's landlord, the co-owner of the store suffered quadruple bypass heart surgery and was unable to keep up the high rent.

"If people are concerned, they should go to the Department of Consumer Affairs," Kriss said.

Do you have a question about something in your neighborhood? Email us at news@strausnews.com with the subject line "What's up with that?"