Current Affairs
June 19, 2025
Housing Starts Fall in May
June 19, 2025
Propylene Inventories
June 18, 2025
Shutdowns
Industry sheds facilities, 1,600+ factory jobs in year of soft demand
Sheila Long O’Mara //Executive Editor, Furniture Today//June 17, 2025
HIGH POINT – A wave of factory shutdowns across the furniture, mattress and textiles sector is signaling sustained pressure on the industry as companies contend with soft demand, overcapacity and ongoing efforts to streamline operations.
Since June 2024, the industry has seen at least a dozen players either shutter facilities or announce plans to do so this year. More than 1,600 employees have been impacted as companies wind down targeted facilities.
Reviewing publicly available notices under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN) filed over the past 12 months reveals a tumultuous time across the home furnishings and mattress category.
While most of the closures are related to the mattress category, the furniture and textiles sides of the business haven’t been spared. The list reads like a who’s who in the industry with Serta Simmons Bedding, Corsicana Mattress Co., Resident Home, A. Lava & Son, and Hooker Furniture having all closed, or announced plans to close, facilities.
These moves follow a similar pattern seen in 2024 when Purple Innovation, Leggett & Platt and Culp Inc. all took steps to consolidate or scale back production footprints, citing ongoing, persistent macroeconomic challenges and shifting consumer behavior.
Leggett & Platt announced a massive restructuring in early 2024 with plans to close up to 20 facilities, while Culp set into motion its plans to close its Canadian operation in Quebec and consolidate two factories in Haiti. Purple’s restructuring consolidated three factories into its 850,000-square-foot McDonough, Ga., location late last year impacting 328 employees in Utah.
The supply side closures are unfolding in parallel with consolidation on the retail front. Regional and national home furnishings retailers have seen a flurry of bankruptcies, closings and acquisitions over the past several years, further pressuring suppliers to adjust production capacity.
Executives point to prolonged post-pandemic normalization, consumer confidence and inflation as catalysts for retrenchment. While some closures are part of broader restructuring efforts, others reflect deeper contractions in specific product categories, particularly mattresses, which have faced declining unit sales.
According to the latest data from the International Sleep Products Assn., total mattress market shipments of U.S produced and imported goods in 2024 dropped 8.8% year-over-year to 24.9 million units compared to 27.3 million units in 2023.
The first six months of 2025 have been active with announcements and closings.
As part of a realignment of its facilities, Corsicana closed its Shelbyville, Tenn., factory last week. According to a WARN notice filed with the state of Tennessee, the company indicated 47 employees would be impacted.
Serta Simmons Bedding is set to close its 533,000-square-foot Moreno Valley, Calif., factory this summer making it the seventh factory the company has closed since 2022. According to a WARN filing, wind-down operations will begin July 5 and run through Sept. 30, impacting 180 employees. The company said the move is part of its strategy to improve efficiency across its manufacturing footprint.
Ashley Furniture closed the 300,000-square-foot Resident Home factory in Jeffersonville, Ind., laying off 106 workers a year after the home furnishings brand acquired the mattress brand. Ashley officials at the time said the production would be consolidated into other Ashley factories.
In its consolidation strategy, Hooker Furniture said in March that it would close its warehouse outside of Savannah, Ga. The closure is set for this month, and the company has opened a warehouse in Vietnam designed to help reduce lead times. The Georgia facility opened in 2021 as an 800,000-square-foot operation to house the former Accentrics Home line, which closed in 2023.
Greensboro, N.C.-based Unifi, a global textile manufacturer, announced in February plans to close its Madison, N.C., factory this month. Another fiber and yarn spinner announced is closing its facility in Kings Mountain, N.C., at the end of the year. The layoffs at Patrick Yarn Mill, a maker of flame-retardant yarns acquired in 2017 by U.K.-based industrial thread manufacturer Coats, started last month and will continue through Dec. 31, according to a WARN notice with the state.
In April, fabric supplier Richloom Fabrics Corp. closed its High Point-based Richloom Weaving, citing home furnishings retail bankruptcies such as Big Lots, Badcock Furniture and Joann Stores. Fifty-four employees were affected by the closure. In Plant City, Fla., Leggett & Platt closed its facility this spring, impacting 78 employees as part of its overall restructuring announced last year.
A Lava & Son, a former textiles and cover supplier to the mattress segment, went out of business in the fall of 2024 shuttering its Chicago facility and putting 188 out of jobs, according to a WARN notice filed with the state of Illinois.
High-end furniture manufacturer EJ Victor shuttered operations in September 2024 citing damage from Hurricane Helene. The company said its insurance provider declined coverage for the factory damage and inventory loss leaving it with no choice but to close and lay off 122 employees.
www.furnituretoday.com/industry-issue/mattress-furniture-factory-closures-2025/
June 15, 2025
Good Memorial Day Sales in Bedding
Mattress Retailers Optimistic After Successful Memorial Day
Memorial Day marks the start of the summer mattress sales season. And while no one knew how the holiday would look this year because of economic uncertainty, retailers we spoke with were satisfied with the results.
Vernon Williams, co-owner of Jacksonville Bedding, Mattresses and More, says his store’s Memorial Day sales were nothing short of incredible.
“Weekend sales were up 168%, and we saw a 312% increase for the month compared to last year,” he says. “Store traffic remained steady throughout the holiday, but what stood out was the higher average ticket size and the sheer volume of essentials and adjustable bases we moved. Customers came ready to invest in better sleep.”
That’s a theme that Michael Wipfler, director of sales at Mueller Furniture, saw as well. He says mattress business at the stores — two of which are in Missouri and the other two in Illinois — were up significantly compared to last year.
“Our average ticket was up as far as sleep systems go,” he says. “We were selling nicer sleep systems, and there wasn’t a rush of low-end sleep sales. We had a lot of people there to invest in their sleep, and that was great to see.”
Tim McDonald, general manager for At Home Furniture and Mattress superstore in Albany, Oregon, says door swings were down, but the tickets and number of serious buyers were “through the roof.”
“We ended up with a 42% increase over last year, which put us about $80,000 ahead of last year. And what’s crazy is last year we were about 28% mattress to furniture, and this year we were 46% mattress to furniture. I think the reason we had such great success is our selling top-down process. We fill the need, versus just selling furniture and mattresses.”
McDonald attributes the quality of sales to the brand’s marketing efforts.
We were marketing our high-end, quality product — $5,000 beds versus the $999 special. Everything was 75% off and our long-term financing was used by many.”
He says it seemed that more people were using financing this year than in the past because the tickets were so high. “We were turning opportunities for basic recliners into split-king mattress sales — $1,000 tickets into $7,000 tickets.”
For McDonald, May started slow, but for others, like Greg Jent, co-owner of two-store Discount Mattress Outlet in Bowling Green, Kentucky, May was a successful month. For one of the stores.
“We saw a 50% increase year over year at one store, and the other store stayed flat,” Jent says. “But the one that didn’t see the holiday increase saw a 100% month-over-month increase in May.”
While Jent says he kept his expectations low, he was pleasantly surprised with the turnout. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in the market, but I’ve talked to a lot of dealers and most of them were either flat or up,” he adds.
Jeff Giagnocavo, co-owner of Gardners Mattress and More in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, says the holiday brought 50% more sales year over year, which was record-breaking for his store.
“We continue to put out a consistent message and then support it with action and customer affirmation to invest in a quality set to wake up happy with reduced pain to get better sleep. We dug into that message this year, so I feel our advertising was probably stronger this year compared to last.”
He says May has always been a strong month for his store and that he anticipated success based on the popular DTC brands his store carries.
“Consumers recognize those names, and our advertising in addition to theirs creates awareness,” he says. “Consumers recognize big S brands but they don’t have the same connection to them as they do with DTC brands.”
The store’s advertising also focused on how financing makes things manageable, and Giagnocavo says that paid off.
“An adjustable Tempur-Pedic sets for 100 bucks a month with 60 months financing,” he says. “But we don’t want to force anyone to do it or get them into debt. We have an honest, upfront conversation about financing and it’s on the uptick.”
It’s still unknown if a successful Memorial Day is a sign of a positive summer selling season to come, but it’s not discouraging. Only time will tell.
SOURCE: Bedding News Now/Alex Milstein
nationwidesouthwest.com/2025/06/12/mattress-retailers-optimistic-after-successful-memorial-day/
June 11, 2025
U.S. Energy
US energy production hits new record high The US produced more energy last year than ever before, reaching a nationwide total of more than 103 quadrillion British thermal units, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration published Monday. This marks a 1% increase from the previous all-time high set in 2023. The EIA report found that domestic production records were broken across a number of major primary energy sources, including biofuels, solar, wind, crude oil, and the largest source of energy in the US since 2011, natural gas. 
While natural gas still accounted for ~38% of total energy production in the US last year, there was no significant increase in production from 2023. Though America remains the world’s top producer of crude oil, hitting a record 13.2 million barrels per day in 2024, this was only up 2% from the year before. Coal shoulder At the same time, the production of coal — the largest source of energy in the US from 1984 until 2010 — slumped to its lowest annual output in 60 years, down 10% from 2023. As the US has moved to gradually replace coal with other energy sources, China, the world’s largest energy producer, continues to drive up global production — and consumption — of the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. In fact, the International Energy Agency estimates that China consumes 30% more coal than the rest of the world put together.
Everchem Updates Archive 
Sign Up for Email Updates