About 200 workers will lose their jobs in a county with high unemployment


By C. GRANT JACKSON
Sumter brand furniture will no longer be made in Sumter.

Chromcraft Revington Inc., which owns the Sumter Cabinet Co., said it will shut down operations in Sumter by Oct. 31 and lay off about 200 employees.

The layoffs certainly won’t help Sumter’s employment numbers, said Mayor Joseph T. McElveen. Unemployment in Sumter County was 8 percent in July.

“I am actually more worried about the impact on those families that will be affected than I am the employment numbers,” McElveen said. “It’s a real shame; it was a top quality company that provided a lot of dependable jobs.”

The Indiana-based company will shut down two other facilities as it restructures.

Chromcraft will outsource all its Sumter brand bedroom and dining room furniture manufacturing to contract manufacturers, primarily in Asia.

Chromcraft plans to sell its 521,000-square-foot facility in Sumter, as well as related equipment.

The company will begin distributing the Sumter brand of furniture from the company’s Lincolnton, N.C., facilities by Jan. 1.

Jeff Faw, president of Sumter Cabinet, was unavailable, and a spokesman said no one else at the factory could comment on the closing.

Chromcraft Revington acquired the plant in 1999 as part of its purchase of Korn Industries. Korn had acquired it in 1986 from Williams Furniture Co.

Chromcraft Revington also will close a warehouse and distribution center in Knoxville, Tenn., by Dec. 31, lay off 16 people and sell the 160,000-square-foot building.

The company also plans to relocate its upholstered furniture operations to another one of its buildings in Lincolnton. It expects few layoffs as part of the move but will sell the 152,000-square-foot upholstery plant.

Reach Jackson at (803) 771-8376