HOOKER FURNITURE BUYS N.C. PLANT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 23, 1993                   TAG: 9302230080
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
HOOKER FURNITURE BUYS N.C. PLANT
Hooker Furniture Corp., a Martinsville company with a plant in Roanoke, said it has completed purchase of a plant in Pleasant Garden, N.C..
The plant was operated by Thomasville Furniture Industries Inc. until it closed in December.
It will be used to expand Hooker's production of entertainment centers, which also are made at the company's Roanoke plant.
E. Larry Ryder said Hooker has a backlog of orders and has been running its plants on 42-hour weeks. He said the additional facility will be started up as soon as possible.
Ryder, senior vice president for finance and administration, said about 25 potential workers were interviewed Thursday in Pleasant Garden.
The 220,000-square-foot plant will initially employ 150 people. Ryder would not say how much the company paid for the plant.
Hooker bought the facility from Armstrong World Industries Inc., which owns Thomasville.
Pleasant Garden is in Guilford County, about an hour from Hooker's Martinsville headquarters.
Hooker employs about 1,250 people and has annual sales of approximately $100 million.
It also has a plant in Kernersville, N.C., and makes occasional and bedroom furniture and desks, wall units and armoires.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB