'I gave them a call, they didn't pick up': Canadian furniture store appears to have gone out of business

Customers empty-handed by furniture store closure Derrick Gravener of Toronto says Wazo Furniture ghosted him after he spent $1,100 on an order it did not fulfill.

Canadian furniture company Wazo Furniture, which has locations in Toronto and Montreal, appears to have gone out of business. CTV News Toronto has been hearing from customers who were shocked to find out after paying in advance for orders over the past few months.

“Something has gone horribly wrong since the last time we purchased from them,” said Derrick Gravener of Toronto, who bought a couch and other items from the company in the past.

In November, Gravener said he placed another order he hoped to receive before Christmas for a family gathering.

“I purchased a table, two chairs to match the bar stools we already had. The total of the order was around $1,100,” said Gravener.

He grew concerned when his emails and phone calls were no longer being answered.

“I gave them a call, they didn’t pick up, and their sales lines didn’t pick up, so that was pretty weird,” said Gravener.

Another viewer, who CTV News agreed to identify as Michael, said he placed an order with Wazo Furniture in September and never received it.

“I got a couch that was $4,800. I have purchased from them in the past, and they seemed fine and generally quite responsive,” he said.

Wazo Furniture's website is still in operation, but emails from CTV News have not been returned. Phone numbers in Toronto and Montreal were also no longer in service.

When CTV News visited the North York location, it appeared almost empty, and according to Google, it’s now permanently closed.

Crews inside the building said it was being renovated and that Wazo Furniture hadn’t been at the location for about a month.

Business bankruptcies in Canada have risen to their highest level in 15 years, reaching 1,312 in the third quarter of 2024.

In Ontario, they were up 67 per cent over the same quarter last year, and at least one licenced insolvency trustee believes more businesses will face trouble in the year ahead.

“I think we are going to see a difficult 2025,” said Doug Hoyes with Hoyes, Michalos & Associates.

Hoyes said many businesses that cease operation don’t always declare bankruptcy, so the number of companies shutting down could be much higher.

“The bankruptcies statistics only tell a part of the story. It could be that the number of businesses that are closing are 10 times higher as what you are seeing in the bankruptcies statistics,” said Hoyes.

He believes we’ve entered a recessionary period, and more businesses will have a tough year ahead.

“If I spend more of my money on food, shelter, and transportation, I’ve got less money to buy furniture, and in a recession, that’s the kind of business that gets hurt,” said Hoyes.

Meanwhile, Gravener is looking for a refund.

“To be completely ghosted by a company is not good. I think, like myself and so many others, we just want our hard-earned money back,” said Gravener.