Hyundai moving to California
By Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, November 12, 2001
High Point — Case goods and occasional importer Hyundai Furniture has closed its headquarters and distribution center here and is moving all operations to its Los Angeles-area distribution center.
President Gary Ash chose not to move west and left the company Nov. 1. Barry Gross, formerly Los Angeles-area sales representative, has been named executive vice president of sales and marketing. Gross said Hyundai currently has no plans to name a president.
"Everything is closed down in High Point. We'll be serving all customers from the West Coast," Gross said. Relocation to the 70,000-square-foot facility in Rancho Dominguez, Calif., should be completed by Dec. 1.
He said the move is part of an effort to consolidate.
"We feel that using one warehouse instead of two will allow us to be a little leaner and meaner in the marketplace," he said. "We'll still carry the full range of product and styles we now have."
Gross has worked in home furnishings sales and management for more than 20 years and has represented Hyundai in the Los Angeles area since 1997.
Hyundai Furniture, a division of the multibillion-dollar, Korea-based conglomerate Hyundai, moved headquarters from Dallas to High Point in 1988. In 1990, it built the 100,000-square-foot facility it had used for headquarters.
Gross said about 20 people worked in High Point, and that they declined to relocate to California. Ash couldn't be reached for comment.
