Furniture Brands International Announces the Closing of Eight Broyhill and Lane Stores

November 6, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2007 Furniture Brands International, St. Louis, announced Tuesday that it will close the four company-owned Broyhill stores and the four company-owned Lane stores in the St. Louis metropolitan area. This will include the closing of the Broyhill and Lane stores in O’Fallon, Manchester, and Brentwood, Missouri, as well as O’Fallon, Ill.

“As part of our recently-announced strategic plan, Furniture Brands will realign its retail distribution system,” said Ralph P. Scozzafava, FBI vice-chairman and CEO esignate of Furniture Brands. “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.”

The Thomasville and Drexel Heritage store presence in St. Louis will continue as before, and consumers will still be able to find Broyhill and Lane products at local independent furniture dealers.

“All pending orders from the eight stores being closed will be honored and will be serviced from those stores or, after they have been closed, from local retailers or from the Broyhill and Lane central offices,” Scozzafava said. “Our consumers should experience no interruption or delay in service.”

The store closing process, which will eliminate 83 jobs, will begin immediately and is expected to conclude by year end. The company will provide severance and retention benefits for those employees who remain until discharged.