Hooker to rely on imports after closing the last of its U.S. wooden furniture plants

by Heather B. Hayes
for Virginia Business
March 2007

Hooker Furniture is closing its last wooden furniture plant. The company will now focus on selling imported wooden furniture made in China, Vietnam, Mexico and other countries.

The closing of the Martinsville furniture plant at the end of March will eliminate 280 jobs. The move will save Hooker $2.8 million to $3.5 million in annual operating expenses. Hooker will keep its headquarters in Martinsville, as well as its warehouse and distribution operations.

Larry Ryder, Hooker’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, says plant employees had been able to work only 90 hours a month during the past nine months “and the prospects looked even worse for the future.”

In 2000, U.S.-made products accounted for 85 percent of Hooker’s wooden furniture sales, while 15 percent came from importing furniture and reselling it to retailers. By last year that ratio had flipped, with domestic wooden manufacturing representing less than 15 percent of total revenue.

Because of their lower wages, foreign manufacturers were able to undercut the prices of Hooker’s domestic-manufactured furniture, driving up consumer demand for imports. As a result, Hooker has been forced to close one domestic wooden furniture plant each year since 2000.

Import sales, however, have been strong. The company’s revenues increased from $221 million in 2001 to $342 million in 2005.

The company now has 750 employees, with 350 in Martinsville and the other 400 working in its upholstered furniture division in North Carolina.