A Lexington furniture shop has closed its doors after receiving thousands of dollars in payments for furniture that has not been delivered so far.

Norwalk,The Furniture Idea,in Hamburg Place was run by Danny Hillard, president of Hillard Enterprises, who is a franchisee of the Norwalk Furniture Corp. in Norwalk, Ohio.Hillard could not be reached for observation despite attempts over several days.

A notice on the store’s door says the business is “temporary closed.” It provides a phone number that leads to an answering machine, but no explanation for the closing.No bankruptcy filing had been made as of late yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Lexington.

Jim Gerken, CEO of Norwalk Furniture Corp., said customers would surely not lose their money or the furniture they ordered. But he added that customers need to be patient while Norwalk’s attorneys work on the case.”The unfortunate situation here is that the legal contract between the consumer and the store isn’t something we can interfere in, or have much effect on, until we get in touch with the franchisee and we enter into a legal agreement to take care of these people,” Gerken said.“We are not going to abandon them,” he said, “but we have to go through the legal steps required before we can take any action.” “All I can say is, we are over a 100-year-old company that hasn’t stayed in business that long by disappointing customers,” Gerken added, “but I understand the frustrations they are feeling, and we are trying to resolve it as quickly as we can.”