Some good news for the furniture industry. An excerpt from the Itawamba County Times, a publication owned by the Daily Journal’s parent company, Journal Publishing:
FULTON – An agreement has been reached that will save more than 250 jobs at Hickory Hill Furniture (previous coverage).
Hickory Hill’s parent company, Norwalk Furniture, will enter into an agreement with both the city of Fulton and Itawamba County for the $2 million purchase of the plant, according to The Itawamba County Times.
If the deal goes through, the city and county would then lease the land, plant and all of its equipment back to Norwalk.
The move brings relief to 257 Hickory Hill employees whose jobs have been in question since the plant ceased operations early last week. Company officials say some employees could return to work as early as this week.
If all goes according to plan, the deal should be finalized within 75 days.
Two weeks ago, Norwalk announced it would be shutting down after its bank called in the business’ $11 million loan and line of credit. Since that time, Norwalk has been in negotiations with both the bank and several other partners to help pay off the loans and save the business.
Here’s an update on the Hickory Hill story from Thursday’s Itawamba County Times:
Rows and rows of cars filled the Hickory Hill parking lot last week, a dramatic contrast to the empty spaces of the week prior. The employees were back at work.
“We’re all pretty happy to be back,” plant manager Charlie Williamson said has he walked through the building. He seemed to be right. Inside the Fulton plant, spirits were high. Workers smiled and laughed as they went through the daily grind, joking and talking while on break. Everything was back to normal.
http://djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=277532&pub=4&div=News
For more background about the deal, read the Journal’s story from last week here:
http://djournal.com/pages/archive.asp?ID=277181&pub=1&div=News