Gelco's Seaside Furniture Re-Opening Moved to Mid-August

Israel "Izzy" Lindner, the owner of Gelco Furniture in Ocean Township, had planned to re-open on Aug. 1. Now, Lindner plans to officially open Gelco's Seaside Furniture in mid-August, according to his daughter Lara.

Lindner bought the Toms River store earlier this summer after it went .

"We are now hoping to open mid-August with a big, grand re-opening on Labor Day," Lara said. "We will be opening and moving things in the next couple of weeks but we officially will open beginning of August but hope to be set up fully by the middle of the month."

Gelco Furniture plans to create a combination of both Seaside Furniture and a lot of Gelco custom finished products to get the "best of both worlds," according to Lara.

Lindner's company has ordered 40,000 square feet of merchandise for its new establishment, which has hindered the moving process. 

"[The merchandise] will take a lot of time to be built," Lara said. "We want to re-open the right way."

The company plans to revamp the outside of the establishment in due time, but plans to keep the longstanding name to now become Gelco's Seaside Furniture. 

Israel Lindner purchased in Ocean Township in 1994. Gelco's Route 35 showroom had been in business for 54 years before Lindner's purchase.  A second store was then opened in Brick in 2001 and was later moved to Hooper Avenue in Toms River in 2007. 

Seaside Furniture was founded in May 1953 by John B. Steigerwald, Bill Wittenburg and Jimmy Armstrong. The store opened on The Boulevard in Seaside Heights before Steigerwald, president of the company, bought out Wittenburg and Armstrong. Steigerwald moved the store in 1962 to its current location in Toms River. 

Former owners Peggy McGarry and her two brothers, John P. and Thomas Steigerwald, had been running the business alongside their father, who retired in 2010.