Chattanooga's Northside Upholstery closing after 64 years; developer buys building for possible residential development

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Johnny Welchance, right, and John Wise shake hands at Welchance Northside Upholstery on Thursday.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Johnny Welchance, right, and John Wise shake hands at Welchance Northside Upholstery on Thursday.

One day soon, Johnny Welchance will lock up for the last time at Northside Upholstery.

"Hardest thing I'll ever do," said Welchance, 74, who's closing the business his father started in 1959. "This was my dad's life, but I guess everything comes to an end.

"It'll be emotional when I turn that key," he said.

Chattanooga developer John Wise has bought the Northside Upholstery building at 724 N. Market St. He said the odds are that he'll demolish the 56-year-old structure and replace it with four residential floors above ground-level parking. He estimated the cost of the new building at between $5 million and $6 million.

"Nice area, close to downtown," said Wise, who added that his company, Wise Properties, has a residential building going up next door and owns two other parcels on the same side of North Market.

"I've gotten to know Johnny (Welchance)," Wise said. "I've been dinking with him for a year and a half, trying to buy it."

Welchance said his father, M.R. "Rod" Welchance, started his upholstery business in 1959 in a building immediately adjacent to its current location. Johnny Welchance said he started working there, mostly sweeping floors and hauling away scrap when he was only 9 years old and was doing upholstery work two or three years later.

"My dad told me one time, 'I know you'd rather be out riding a bike, but you need to learn a trade,'" said Welchance, who added that his dad put up a new building for the business in 1967 and tore down the old.

Welchance said he took over the business in January 2004, shortly after his father's death. He recalled gathering the employees, whom he said were wondering about their futures.

"I told them, 'Daddy showed us how to do this, and if we do it exactly like he did, we'll be okay' -- and we were," he said. "It worked because my dad put his heart and soul into this, and taught me the business from the ground up. I didn't know another way to run it, except the way he did."

Welchance ran the business for nearly 20 more years, but said he started thinking in 2021 about retirement.

"I had several through the years wanting to buy this property, but I wasn't ready to quit," he said. "Then my daughter pushed me a little, John (Wise) fell into the picture and we came to an agreement on price."

A fan of bluegrass music, Welchance said he plans to travel a bit and attend festivals. But he was quick to add that, before that first trip and that last lock-up, there's still work to be done -- and his father wouldn't let him coast to the finish line.

"We've got a lot of furniture to get out, and we've pretty much quit taking stuff in," he said, "but it's time, and I don't know how much I've got left."

Contact Bob Gary at bgary@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6731.

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