Main Street Casket Store saving money, turning heads

One wouldn't expect to see caskets for sale while walking the sidewalks of downtown Cincinnati.

"You should see the looks on peoples' faces when they walk or drive by," says Eric Lusain, owner of the recently-opened Main Street Casket Store at 722 Main Street and developer of the upscale Cool-Lofts apartment brand scattered throughout the area.

To rent his apartments, he needed to dress up the storefront.

"The previous tenant was a clothing store with chain link on the windows," Lusain says.  "It's kind of hard to rent out apartments with jacuzzis and stainless steel appliances with that down there."

Lusain started studying the funeral business after saving $1,300 on the funeral of a family member by purchasing a casket from an Indianapolis storefront.

He estimates that he has a dozen different caskets displayed on the showroom floor, but he also sells his unique product line on his website.

"The showroom is for people online to come in and see it," Lusain says.  "People really don't understand the concept of buying a casket from somewhere besides a funeral home."

One key aspect of the Main Street Casket Store is education, where customers can learn about what funerals really cost.

When dealing with funeral homes, buyers can often get locked into casket markups, non-declinable fees and other charges approaching several thousand dollars.

"It's hard to figure out if you've never done it before," Lusain says.  "So I show people how to evaluate the services of funeral homes.  But I don't push one [funeral home] over another."

Showroom hours are by appointment only.

"We want to make sure that we can spend all the time that the customer needs," he says.

Understandably, funeral homes aren't so happy that he's cutting into their business by offering savings of $1,000 or more.

"To me, competition is good," Lusain says.

Writer: Kevin LeMaster
Source: Eric Lusain, owner, Main Street Casket Store

Photography by Scott Beseler