Black's Furniture closes doors in Greensboro, N.C.
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, August 4, 2008
Greensboro, N.C. — Retailer Black's Furniture, which said last month that it had changed its business strategy to selling only merchandise in stock, closed its doors last week.
The doors were locked during business hours July 30. A local television newscast aired interviews with customers wondering what will happen to their deposits.
Brooks Reitzel, a High Point attorney representing the 80,000-square-foot store owned by Chris and Wanda Cox, didn't return phone calls for this story. His voicemail was changed July 30, informing customers that their open orders were still being processed by the retailer and that consumers could expect a written correspondence from the company within 10 days.
Earlier this month, he said Black's has faced five or six years of key vendors pulling out and millions of dollars in lost sales as a result.
According to court documents, at least two former suppliers are suing Black's for money they say they are owed. Broyhill sued Black's in June, claiming the retailer owed it $238,024, and La-Z-Boy Greensboro sued in late July saying it was owed $67,165.
Broyhill pulled out of Black's last year, Reitzel said, adding that it represented more than $2 million in annual sales.
He said pressure was put on several manufacturers to stop selling Black's by a competing retailer he wouldn't name.
