Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
HMI to Open Distribution Center in Georgia
October 16,
2020 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry 
High Point, N.C.-based Home Meridian International (HMI), a division of Hooker Furniture Corporation, will consolidate its East Coast warehousing operations in a new 800,000-square-foot distribution facility in Liberty County, Georgia strategically located near the Port of Savannah.
The state-of-the-art distribution center is expected to be fully operational by Fall of 2021. The division also maintains a West Coast distribution facility in Redlands, Calif. which is expected to be unaffected by the East Coast consolidation.
HMI maintains locations around the world, with brands under its portfolio including Pulaski Furniture, Samuel Lawrence Furniture, Samuel Lawrence Hospitality, Prime Resources International, Accentrics Home, and HMIdea. The Liberty County facility is strategically located to reach nearly all of the U.S. population within 36 hours, reducing transportation costs, and increasing operating efficiencies. The location’s proximity to the Port of Savannah played a major role in the project, as the company is expected to import more than 8,000 cargo container units a year.
“We are pleased by the opportunity to better support our customers through consolidating our HMI inventory in this state-of-the-art, high-bay, 800,000-square-foot facility located near a major port,” said Paul B. Toms Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Hooker Furniture Corporation. “As robust demand for products serviced out of our warehouses continues to increase, this will better position us to grow.”
HMI will leave multiple warehouses in the Madison-Mayodan area of North Carolina, some of them older facilities, to consolidate in the new facility that is also located near major interstate highways. “This will allow us to service our customers better by being in a more efficient, consolidated warehouse,” said Toms. “Demand for products in the portion of our business supported by warehouse inventory, including e-commerce, is robust, and this move puts in place the infrastructure to support future growth.”
Toms said the company is grateful to the approximately 60 employees who have staffed HMI’s warehouses in the Madison-Mayodan area for over 15 years, and “our intention is to offer continuing employment opportunities to these employees, either in Georgia or our Martinsville, Va. facilities.”