Springfield Clinic wants to use the former site of Ashley Furniture Outlet and Barney’s Furniture on Springfield’s west side for storage and eventually for retail sales of medical equipment and devices.
The multispecialty physician group’s request for zoning to allow for those plans at 1987 Wabash Ave. will be considered Sept. 17 by the Springfield Planning and Zoning Commission for an advisory recommendation to the Springfield City Council. The council, which has the final say on zoning matters, is scheduled to hear and potentially vote on the clinic’s request Oct. 21.
The Seidman family closed Barney’s Furniture at the site in 2020 to convert the location to an Ashley Furniture Outlet. The Ashley store opened in April 2021, but owner Barry Seidman told Springfield Business Journal in 2024 that he was making changes to the business model and listing the building for sale. The building has been vacant since March 1, Seidman said.
The Seidman family owns Ashley HomeStore locations in Springfield, Jacksonville, Quincy and Terre Haute, Indiana. The Springfield store, at 2325 Chuckwagon Drive in Prairie Crossing, has been open since 2006, and Barry Seidman said he is offering items at the main location without having to operate a second store in Springfield.
The Springfield resident said he would sell the 46,000-square-foot building on Wabash Avenue to the clinic if zoning is approved.
The staff of the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission recently issued a nonbinding recommendation that the clinic be granted a zoning change and a use variance to allow for both storage and retail sales.
Springfield Zoning Administrator John Harris said the city isn’t aware of any opposition to the proposal.
Springfield Clinic officials wouldn’t comment on the zoning request, which doesn’t represent the for-profit clinic’s first foray into medical equipment and supply sales.
Springfield Clinic says on its website that Vono Medical Supplies, based at 400 N. First St. in Springfield, has become a nonprofit “affiliate” of the clinic. Vono has sold medical supplies and equipment in central Illinois since 1982.
A Vono employee who answered the phone said the acquisition took place in fall 2024. The previous owner, Sue Cain, who still works at Vono, wouldn’t speak with Illinois Times when contacted Sept. 10.
Springfield Clinic spokespersons didn’t respond to phone calls and emails. Daniel Hamilton, a lawyer with Brown Hay and Stephens who is representing the clinic in the zoning case, also wouldn’t comment.
Sangamon County property records currently list Vono’s 8,300-square-foot building in Springfield as being owned by Vono Real Estate in Riverview, Florida, with $42,112 in property tax paid in 2025.
The Wabash property includes 30,000 square feet of space formerly used for retail sales and 15,500 square feet for storage. The building, constructed in the 1970s, previously was a Hobby Lobby location and, before that, a Jewel-Osco grocery and drugstore, Seidman said.
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer with Illinois Times. He can be reached at dolsen@illinoistimes.com, 217-679-7810 or www.x.DeanOlsenIT.