Furniture Brands subsidiary, H.D.M. Furniture Industries is Closing in Morganton

The Henredon furniture plant will close in December.

September 22, 2007

BURKE COUNTY NC NEWS -- H.D.M. Furniture Industries Incorporated, a subsidiary of Furniture Brands International, the largest residential furniture manufacturer in the country will close its Henredon furniture plant in Morganton, North Carolina in December. Furniture Brands International solidified its ranking as the number one residential furniture U.S. maker of when it bought Henredon furniture.The H.D.M. Furniture Industries corporation is also a consolidation of Henredon Furniture, Drexel Heritage Furniture, and Maitland-Smith.

In December 2005, Furniture Brands International consolidated Drexel Heritage Furniture in Hildebran, North Carolina with H.D.M. Furniture Industries Incorporated, closing Drexel manufacturing plant. All employees in the Hildebran plant were offered transfers to the Morganton location.

On December 2, 2005, Jeff Young, then President and Chief Executive Officer of HDM said, "The consolidation of these two manufacturing operations is directly related to capacity issues. It is made possible by the unique similarity of the quality, construction integrity and sophisticate finishes of both the upper-end of Henredon's wood assortment and Drexel Heritage's Heritage division  which represents the high-end of that company's wood assortment. There will be no Drexel product produced at the Morganton facility  which represents the mid-priced wood assortment for Drexel Heritage. This allows us to utilize our larger Henredon facility more efficiently as we will move to produce both Henredon and Heritage wood products in this 875,000 square foot, exclusively high-end, premium wood facility."

In August 2006, H.D.M. Furniture Industries announced the opening of its first corporately owned retail home furnishings store in the Perimeter Mall area of Atlanta, Georgia. The store was said to represent an important aspect of the company's continued leadership as a luxury brand. The new 15,000 square-foot showroom features extensive Henredon collections with selections from Ralph Lauren Home, Lauren, and Barbara Barry Realized by Henredon, with which Henredon has licensing agreements.

In late August 2007, Jeff Young, then President and Chief Executive Officer of HDM, stepped down as President and Chief Executive Officer of HDM, and was replaced by Tom Foy, the president and chief operating officer of Furniture Brands International was chosen to run HDM on an interim basis.

Now, within less than a month H.D.M. Furniture Industries Incorporated will close the Morganton plant.

North Carolina Governor Easley has announced that a Rapid Response Team from the N.C. Department of Commerce will be deployed to the Morganton facility. The Commerce Rapid Response Team meets with employers and employees to share information on available transition services for workers who have lost their jobs as a result of a layoff or facility closure. Core services to dislocated workers include job search and placement assistance, career counseling, labor market information and assessment of skills and needs.

Governor Easley said, "The company says they will be able to place about 100 of their 521 workers in other jobs. I have directed the Rapid Response Team to work with HDM and local employment partners to help the other employees begin the process of finding new jobs or gain the training necessary to remain successful in our competitive economy."

Henredon furniture was founded in 1945 by four men determined to build custom quality furniture. Back then the product line consisted of just three chests. It has since grew into hundreds of beautiful wood and upholstery designs for every room. Henredon furniture is known worldwide for being some of the best furniture America has to offer. The Henredon furniture plant will be deeply missed as part of North Carolina's historic furniture industry's heritage.