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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 15, 1993                   TAG: 9312150302
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

IN BUSINESS

Motorists this Christmas holiday should pay the lowest gasoline prices in seven years, on average, the American Automobile Association said Tuesday.

The motor club's monthly survey found the nationwide average price of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline is $1.091 per gallon, the lowest in the week before Christmas since regular unleaded averaged 90.4 cents per gallon in 1986.

The average December price also is the lowest of 1993, down 2.5 cents since the previous survey on Nov. 16.

AAA said 42 percent of stations will be open during the Christmas weekend and 31 percent will be open 24 hours.

- Staff report

Briefly . . .

LADD Furniture Inc. said Tuesday that Gregg Sammons has been named chairman of Fournier Furniture, a Minneapolis-based furniture manufacturer and LADD subsidiary with a plant in Wise County. The parent company said this is an initial step toward Sammons' planned retirement from Fournier, the company he founded and that was acquired by LADD in the summer of 1992. A search has begun for a new president.

VF Corp., Wyomissing, Pa. parent of Bassett-Walker Inc. of Martinsville, and Nutmeg Industries Inc., a Tampa, Fla., designer and producer of licensed sports apparel, said they have agreed to merge, with VF acquiring all outstanding Nutmeg shares for $17.50 in cash per share, a deal valued at about $332 million. Nutmeg is a leading licensee for all major league sports.