Dunk & Bright closes South Salina Street store, shifts operations to Clay

Dunk & Bright Furniture is ending its South Salina Street run after 99 years, but the Syracuse-born company is not disappearing. Instead, owner Joe Bright said the business is consolidating in Clay, moving every employee from the Syracuse location and listing the South Salina Street property and buildings for sale.

The move turns a familiar retail landmark into a test of how legacy chains adapt to new buying habits, tighter real estate economics and a retail map that has kept shifting north and east in Onondaga County. Bright said the decision was made months ago, but he waited to announce it until after the company opened its Rochester store. Orders, warranties and service needs will still be honored, a signal aimed at longtime customers who have treated Dunk & Bright as a four-generation family furniture and mattress business rather than a single showroom.

Dunk & Bright was founded in 1927 by William Bright Sr. and William Dunk Sr. in Syracuse’s Brighton neighborhood on South Salina Street. The company later expanded with major additions in 1991 and 1998, building out a presence that became part of the city’s commercial identity. Its South Salina Street showroom and the planned Clay showroom at Great Northern Mall were both described in 2021 as 90,000 square feet, underscoring how central the Clay location has become to the company’s future.

That future had been taking shape for years. In 2021, the company said the Clay showroom would employ 25 to 35 people and had already added eight new workers. By July 2025, Bright said Dunk & Bright had 66 full-time and part-time employees across South Salina Street and Clay. Now, all Syracuse-site workers are being transferred north as the company looks to operate with one consolidated hub.

The company’s own message framed the shift as a way to bring inventory, delivery and customer service under one roof, with the goal of faster deliveries and a more streamlined experience. That strategy also reflects how furniture retail has changed across Central New York, where large-format stores, regional draw and online competition have reshaped where customers go and how they shop.

The closing leaves South Salina Street with another vacant anchor at a time when the corridor remains one of Syracuse’s most important commercial stretches. Dunk & Bright’s broader footprint now reaches beyond Onondaga County, with the company saying it serves communities including Rochester, Victor, Greece, Henrietta, Pittsford, Penfield, Webster, Irondequoit, Gates and Chili. The South Salina Street chapter is ending, but the brand that began there is betting its next phase will be stronger from Clay.