By Elizabeth Cook

ecook@salisburypost.com

Carter Furniture, maker of contemporary upholstered furniture in Salisbury since 1968, closed its doors Wednesday.

The company employed 70 people at its 1000 N. Long St. plant and 16 at its frame plant in Denton.

Bill Ward, president and a major stockholder of the company, said the recession hurt Carter Furniture's business like everyone else's last year. But the fatal blow came in the last quarter of 2008.

"It just went straight down," Ward said.

"This was a very, very hard decision to make. We just could not see that we could last."

Directional Furniture, another maker of contemporary furniture, is buying the company's assets and moving production to its plant in Thomasville, Ward said. A small percentage of Carter employees who live in the Lexington area will go to work for Directional.

Foreign competition has nearly decimated the furniture industry in North Carolina. "Everything hurts," Ward said, but Carter Furniture did not feel the impact as much as makers of case goods such as bedroom and dining room furniture.

"The economy is what got us," he said.

Carter Furniture 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. A Post story at the time touted the fact that the factory would be fully air-conditioned.

The company was part of a reorganization in 1984 that made it part of Carter Industries, with Tom Staats at the helm for several years. Other changes in organization and ownership followed. 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.

Ward himself has been in the furniture-making business for 56 years, having operated or owned other facilities.

He had high praise for the people who produced Carter Furniture. "The employees here were the most loyal of any factory I've ever been with," he said.

Ward said he had several opportunities and has not decided what he will do next.

Word of the plant's closing got out in the community earlier this week, but no official word was released until Thursday.

"There may be some short delay filling orders due to the movement of the manufacturing facilities," a Carter Furniture press release said. "Distribution and representation should remain the same for all customers."

The soon-to-be new owner has been making contemporary furniture for more than 60 years, the press release said. "Directional Furniture anticipates carrying the Carter line forward, maintaining its quality services and reputation."

Carter Furniture stockholders still own the property on Long Street and Directional will lease the Denton plant, Ward said.

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