Furniture Brands to close eight St. Louis-area stores
Four Broyhill, Four Lane units will shut down
Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, November 7, 2007
ST. LOUIS — Furniture Brands International said today it will close eight company-owned stores, four Broyhill and four Lane units, all in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
They include stores in O’Fallon, Manchester, and Brentwood, Mo., and O’Fallon, Ill. The closings will begin immediately and are expected to conclude by year end.
“As part of our recently-announced strategic plan, Furniture Brands will realign its retail distribution system,” said Ralph Scozzafava, vice-chairman and CEO designate of the St. Louis-based company.
“Thomasville and Drexel Heritage will focus on expansion of their network of company-owned and dealer-owned single branded stores. Broyhill and Lane, on the other hand, will focus distribution in traditional furniture retailers and mass merchants. The store closings announced today are in furtherance of that strategy,” he said.
He added that the Thomasville and Drexel Heritage stores in St. Louis will continue operating, and that consumers will still be able to shop local independent dealers for the Broyhill and Lane brands.
Pending orders from the closing stores will be honored, he said. They will be serviced from the stores or from local retailers, Broyhill or Lane Central offices after the closings. “Our consumers should experience no interruption or delay in service,” Scozzafava said.
When the closing process is over, Furniture Brands will eliminate all the store positions as well as certain jobs at the warehouse facilities and the Furniture Brands general retail offices in St. Louis, for a total of 83 jobs, the company said. It will provide severance and retention benefits for employees who remain until discharged.
The company did not say if additional stores will also close under the new plan.
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