ST. LOUIS, Nov. 6, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Furniture Brands International (NYSE:FBN) announced today 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, Illinois.
Ralph P. Scozzafava, Vice-Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Designate of Furniture Brands, commented, "As part of our recently-announced strategic plan, Furniture Brands will realign its retail distribution system. 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," Mr. Scozzafava continued. "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. Our consumers should experience no interruption or delay in service."
The store closing process will begin immediately and is expected to conclude by year end. At the conclusion of this period, the jobs of all associates working at these eight locations will be eliminated, together with certain positions at the warehouse facilities and the Furniture Brands general retail offices in St. Louis. A total of 83 jobs will be affected. The company will provide severance and retention benefits for those employees who remain until discharged.
Mr. Scozzafava concluded, "We appreciate the efforts of all of our associates, and we will assist them as they seek other employment. We also appreciate the many consumers who have purchased furniture at our Broyhill and Lane stores, we assure them of continued service throughout this transition, and we invite them to take advantage of the great values to be realized as we are winding down those operations."
Furniture Brands International (NYSE:FBN) is a vertically integrated operating company that is one of the nation's leading designers, manufacturers, and retailers of home furnishings. With annual sales in excess of $2 billion, it markets through a wide range of retail channels, from mass merchant stores to single-brand and independent dealers to specialized interior designers. Furniture Brands serves its customers through four distinct brand families -- Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville and Drexel Heritage, and a Designer Brands group that includes, Henredon, Pearson, Hickory Chair, Laneventure, and Maitland-Smith.
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