The company employed 70 people at its 1000 North Long Street plant and 16 at its frame plant in Denton.
Bill Ward, president and a major stockholder of the company said that the Directional Furniture, another maker of contemporary furniture, is buying the company’s assets and moving production to its plant in Thomasville. A small percentage of Carter employees who live in the Lexington area will go to work for Directional.
He added that the recession hurt Carter Furniture’s business like everyone else’s last year. But the fatal blow came in the last quarter of 2008.
Ward said It just went straight down. This was a very, very hard decision to make. We just could not see that we could last, the employees here were the most loyal of any factory I’ve ever been with.
The company did not feel the impact as much as makers of case goods such as bedroom and dining room furniture.
The company began in 1968 as Carter Chair, with Chuck McGauran as president and Charlie Hoover as vice president and plant supervisor, according to Post files. Paul Carter was secretary and John Carter was treasurer.
Wagoner Construction built the $120,000 plant on property the Carters owned on Long Street in an area then known as Henderson Woods.
In 1992, Bill Ward came on board as president and stockholder and redirected the company once again, this time pulling out of the low-end furniture market and specializing in medium- to high-priced chairs and sofas.
In the 1990s, Carter Furniture was also exporting its goods, sending shipments to such places as Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. In more recent years, Ward said, the company catered to designers and decorators instead of retail stores.
There may be some short delay filling orders due to the movement of the manufacturing facilities. Distribution and representation should remain the same for all customers. Directional Furniture anticipates carrying the Carter line forward, maintaining its quality services and reputation. a Carter Furniture press release said.
