Wood-Armfield closing Utility Craft store in H.P.
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, March 19, 2006
High Point — Wood-Armfield is closing its 16,000-square-foot Utility Craft store here after 20 years, choosing to consolidate the business into its larger showroom near downtown.
The Top 100 company hired Daniel Lynch Sales to run the closing sale, which began last week and is expected to be completed in about six weeks, said Phil Kennett, president of the four-store company, which also operates a High Point clearance center and Gallahan's in Fredericksburg, Va.
He would not disclose projected revenues from the closing sale but said, "It should be nice."
Kennett said the consolidation is "something we've had in the works for a long time. We're moving the entire staff (to Wood-Armfield) where they have access ... to a lot more showroom and a lot more product and lines."
Kennett said all the major lines at Utility Craft — including Century, Hooker, Stanley, Lexington, American Drew, Bradington-Young, Hickory Chair, Nichols & Stone, Harden, Statton and Lane — are duplicated at the 136,000-square-foot, five-level Wood-Armfield store downtown, where the displays are much larger.
Utility Craft wasn't able to show certain other lines that Wood-Armfield carries, such as Thomasville and Bernhardt, because of gallery requirements and limited space.
"We feel this will give (the Utility Craft) staff a lot more opportunity to do more business," Kennett said. "We'll save some overhead, but do more business."
Kennett wouldn't disclose the annual sales of Utility Craft but said it accounted for a small part of the retailer's volume. He believes the likely business boost at Wood-Armfield will more than make up for the closing.
The store's sales for 2005 were unavailable. Furniture/Today estimates Wood-Armfield had furniture, bedding and accessory sales of about $64.5 million in 2004.
In fall 2005, the company closed a 20,000-square-foot showroom in the Atrium Furniture Mall in downtown High Point as the Atrium prepared to convert from a retail center to wholesale furniture showrooms. Wood-Armfield also put its main showroom on the market, aiming to sell it and eventually move to property it owns at Business Interstate 85 and the U.S. Highway 311 bypass and Brentwood Street interchanges, but no deal is in the works yet.
The company owns the Utility Craft building at Eastchester Drive and Penny Road and will look to either sell or lease it, Kennett said.
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