Have You Heard?

WICHITA — Norwalk Furniture & Design is still in business, but you won’t find it at the Shops at Tallgrass at 21st and Rock Road.

In fact, you might not find it at all if you don’t know what you’re looking for. This month, Julia Benson moved her store to temporary space in a warehouse at 8630 E. 32nd Court North.

“It’s a pretty good-looking showroom,” she says of the selling area she’s created.

Benson has had the 3,000-square-foot warehouse, which is in the same building as the American Heart Association, for eight years.

She and her husband, Jim, bought the business – which then was a franchise called Norwalk the Furniture Idea – in 2004. Greg Wyers opened the store in 5,110 square feet at Tallgrass in 1998.

“In fact, Norwalk was the first store in that complex,” Julia Benson says.

She and the chain faced some serious hurdles when the economy crashed a few years ago.

“In 2008, when the banks first started squeezing in, Norwalk went under,” Benson says.

Her store remained in business but felt the pinch, she says.

“The same thing happened to me that happened to everybody else.”

That’s why she’s looking for new, less-expensive space.

“I love what I do,” Benson says. “I believe that our customers will follow us wherever we go, and so far I’ve been proven right.”

She adds, “I don’t mean that to sound like a braggart.”

In the couple of weeks since she’s moved, though, Benson’s business hasn’t diminished.

Still, she hopes to find new space quickly, and she’s not picky about what part of Wichita it’s in.

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UPDATED — Cox Communications Kansas/Arkansas is moving its retail center at 21st and Rock, but it’s not going far.

The store will move from the Shops at Tallgrass near the northeast corner across the parking lot to the north of Dillons.

“We are just keeping in line with the Cox retail marketing strategy,” says spokeswoman Sarah Kauffman.

At 3,000 square feet, the new store will be larger than the existing one.

“We really want consumers and customers to have an experience when they walk in a Cox store,” Kauffman says.

The new store will be especially hands-on with technology, she says, “where customers can test or try out the products.”

That includes high-speed Internet, digital cable and home phones.

Ish Tamas of J.P. Weigand & Sons handled the deal.

In about a week, Cox will start remodeling the space, which was where Supplement Giant and Home Fitness Exercise Equipment Co. used to be.

Last summer, owners Wayne and Lisa Ragsdale made their own short jaunt across the parking lot to new space where a former Blockbuster was.

The new Cox store should open in a couple of months.