Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Hooker Furnishings Plans Exit from Savannah Distribution Center
March 24,
2025 by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry 
Hooker Furnishings Corporation, a global leader in the design, production, and marketing of home furnishings for 101 years, announced its decision to exit its Savannah, Georgia distribution center and consolidate operations in its existing facilities.
“Our decision to exit our Savannah, Georgia distribution facility was not taken lightly,” said Jeremy R. Hoff, Hooker’s Chief Executive Officer. “We deeply appreciate the hospitality and support received from the state of Georgia, the Georgia Ports Authority, and from the Liberty County Development Authority, in particular.”
The Company commenced operations at the Savannah facility in October 2021 for its Home Meridian segment’s Accentrics Home brand. However, shortly after opening the facility, ACH’s competitive position was severely eroded by a sharp rise in post-COVID container freight rates from Asia, which jumped from approximately $4,000 to over $25,000 per container in some cases at the time.
“The sharp rise in container freight rates made ACH’s once-thriving line of high-volume, lower-priced, low-margin accent items unsustainable,” Hoff continued. “Despite the temporary elevation in freight rates, it became obvious ACH’s business model would continue to be high-risk and low reward. In 2024, we liquidated its inventory and closed ACH, part of a larger plan to exit unprofitable businesses at HMI. We began reducing our footprint in Savannah shortly after that through a series of sub-leases and lease amendments with our landlord, continued to utilize remaining space for other brands in our Home Meridian segment and for the Sunset West division of our Domestic Upholstery segment.”
“Despite the fact we’re leaving Liberty County, it’s important to Hooker that DC continues to be successful for Liberty County and other stakeholders. Consequently, we’re working with current DC employees, our landlord, and the new tenants to ensure a smooth transition,” Hoff said. “One of the most difficult aspects of this decision is the impact on our dedicated employees in Liberty County. We take immense pride in the team we’ve built, and our priority is to support them during this transition. We are collaborating with the incoming tenant and other potential employers to help our employees secure positions, ideally within the same facility. Additionally, we have provided exit benefits to affected employees, with the goal of easing their transition, regardless of the path they choose,” Hoff concluded.
The Company is finalizing estimates of the potential financial impacts of the DC exit and expects to provide additional information in its earnings release and subsequent conference call on April 17, 2025, and in its Annual Report on Form 10-K, expected to be filed on April 18, 2025. Currently, the Company preliminarily expects to record net charges of between $1.6 and $2.0 million in fiscal 2025 and between $3.0 million to $4.0 million in fiscal 2026, related to the Savannah exit. It further expects preliminary savings of between $750,000-$1.0 million in net operating expenses in fiscal 2026. Also preliminarily, the Company expects to realize annualized savings of between $4.0 million to $4.5 million beginning in fiscal 2027. These costs and benefits are largely dependent on the timing of the completion of the exit and could differ from these preliminary estimates.