Furniture Store

The Children’s Miracle Network of CoxHealth recently received a $3,600 donation from Hank’s Fine Furniture stores, CoxHealth announced today.

The money was raised during Hank’s annual CMN anniversary event. This is the 11th year that a portion of the store’s retail sales were donated to CMN.

Since the fundraiser’s creation, more than $500,000 has been donated to CMN hospitals near Hank’s store locations.

The CMN of Cox Health is a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance for sick and injured children living in a 32-county area in southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas.

Posted by Ewin at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

Grasping plastic flutes of champange, about 40 people paid tribute to Taft Furniture on its final day of business Saturday.

“People have said this champagne is the only thing you’ve given away in this store. I want to say that friendship and love were given away in this store,” Dr. Ed Clement said. “I hope you always remember what an institution you guys have been in Greenville.”

Taft Furniture started in 1897 when 30-year-old Edmund Hoover Taft opened a store on Evans Street. The company moved in 1917 to its current location on Dickinson Avenue, bordered by Evans, Washington and Sixth streets — behind Sheppard Memorial Library and Jarvis United Methodist Church

E.H. Taft’s sons, Joseph M. Taft and Williams Taft Sr., joined the business in the 1920s. They remained active in the business — William until his death in January 1984 and Joseph into the 1990s.

Bill Taft Jr. has operated the store for more than four decades, along with his cousins, Joe, Louis and Edgar Taft.

Taft had a history of long-time employees who became like family, Bill Taft Jr. said.

“We have been truly a family tradition among ourselves and among the community, too, I think,” he said.

Taft Furniture expanded during a downtown redevelopment push in the 1970s and boosted its showroom space to 34,000 square feet.

The property has been sold to Jarvis.

“I’m sad because this business has been part of my whole life,” said Cissy Taft Hicks, 40, of Washington, D.C. “Although I’m happy that my family will now get to travel and see grandkids, It’s still a little sad. It’s like an end of an era.”

Posted by Ewin at 8:07 PM | Permalink | Comments

A High Point furniture company has reversed an earlier announcement that it was closing its doors and going out of business.

In October, Rose Furniture had announced it was closing, and about 150 of 250 employees were laid off or resigned. On Monday, however, the company told the remaining workers they’d be keeping their jobs.

Those remaining workers had spent the last several months overseeing a massive going-out-of-business sale in hopes of unloading all unsold inventory.

According to Buck Kester, the company’s president, the success of the closeout sales enabled Rose Furniture to keep its doors open long enough to come up with a new business model and some new investors.

Kester said he was surprised by the change in fortune.

“I’m very excited about the future, and our new business model is an exciting model for not only High Point, but for the furniture industry in general,” he said, indicating that if all goes well, more details could be revealed — and more workers hired — this summer.

High Point Mayor Becky Smothers said the announcement was good news for the city, the company and Rose Furniture employees.

“I’m just real proud that they were able to work through this situation and garner the type of investment opportunities that have come along,” she said. “It’s a great day.”

Posted by Ewin at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments