By Matthew Saari

Hot on the heels of a statewide, countywide state of emergency and regional schools closing, a pillar of the Granville community has also announced its closure.

Telescope Casual Furniture announced Tuesday it will close its doors until April 1.

“As a leading employer in this community, we feel it is our civic duty to make this decision,” said Telescope CEO Kathy Juckett in the press release. “Family and community have always been of utmost importance to us, and our current climate doesn’t change that.”

The employees furloughed during the next two weeks will still be paid, Juckett said, and office personnel including customer service, sales, credit and production management will work from home. Customer service can still be contacted during normal business hours, she added.

“This is a 100% preventative measure as there are no known cases of COVID-19 at Telescope or in our local community,” Juckett said.

Telescope will continue taking orders through the closure, Juckett said, and “orders taken during this time period will be dated as accurately as possible with the two-week closure being taken into account.”

Given how fast the pandemic situation has been developing over the past week, Juckett said, Telescope will remain in contact with the community regarding the closure and if anything changes.

“As this is a fluid situation, we will continue to provide updates if there are any changes in our re-opening,” she said. “We understand the inconveniences this may cause your business and we will do our best to communicate any and all delays properly.”