A few area businesses are closing their doors as some struggle with finances and others seek new opportunities.

In Bowling Green, Simply Furniture, L&S Pawn Shop and Hollywood Video will soon shut down.

Simply Furniture has operated on Scottsville Road near Pedigo Way for about nine years, and owner Aaron Boggess plans to close the store next month. About six people work there.

“It’s not my passion,” Boggess said of the furniture business. “I’m not getting out because I have to, I’m getting out because I want to.”

Boggess plans to open a new hobby business, dubbed Hobby Crossing, this summer. He owned a similar business in Bowling Green for about four years before he closed the shop in 1996 to help his family’s business in Madisonville.

That business, also called Hobby Crossing, was successful, catering to people who worked with model airplanes and trains, collected comic books and participated in other hobbies, Boggess said.

“I’ve done it before, and I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I kind of wish I had never gotten out of it.”

And furniture is a stressful business, with increased competition and decreased demand for high-quality products, he said.

Boggess owns the Simply Furniture building and plans to lease the 16,000-square-foot facility. He will look for a smaller building for his hobby business.

On Campbell Lane, Hollywood Video is liquidating its assets as the company plans to close its Bowling Green store.

The store’s parent company, Movie Gallery Inc., is closing 760 locations as part of a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The company filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 2 after struggling with economic and competitive challenges, according to a news release.

Company officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Across town, L&S Pawn Shop, which sits on the U.S. 31-W By-Pass near Fairview Avenue, will close at the end of March after about 30 years in business as owner Larry Yeckering and his wife look to retire.

“Neither of us need to be working 55 hours a week,” he said, adding that regular customers are disappointed. “They hate to see me go out.”

Food Lion in Franklin closed Friday as part of a company restructuring, which resulted in 15 Food Lion store closings.

“We made difficult decisions to close certain underperforming stores in certain markets,” said Christy Phillips-Brown, spokeswoman for Food Lion.

It was the only Kentucky store that closed – about 10 Food Lions now operate in the state, she said.

Food Lion employed about 24 local residents, said Steve Thurmond, executive director of the Franklin-Simpson Chamber of Commerce.

“Anytime you lose that number of workers, it has an impact on the community as a whole,” he said.

The closure also affects local consumers, who now have fewer grocery shopping options, he said.

“We still have a fine independently owned grocery store and a Walmart chain,” Thurmond said. “Consumers are impacted anytime their choices are diminished.”