Clint Engel –
HIGH POINT — Retailer Wood-Armfield says it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection next week.

The former Top 100 company has hired bankruptcy counsel to assist with the filing, which will come some time next week, the company said in a message left at its main phone number.

It will seek court permission to hire a sales consultant to assist with and “orderly liquidation” and work with customers to fill pending orders, the message said. Earlier this year, the company liquidated its Utility Craft showroom here.

Wood-Armfield President Phil Kennett could not be immediately reached for comment. In a voice mail left earlier this week, he said, “We want very much to take care of our customers and that’s our effort. We hope to accomplish that through the sale of inventory.”

He also noted that retailer Gallahan’s in Fredericksburg, Va. — where Kennett is also the principal owner — is a separate company and that the actions at Wood-Armfield “should not disturb operations at Gallahan’s.”

When Wood-Armfield announced the Utility Craft liquidation in March, it said the plan was to consolidate business down to the main store in High Point, a 136,000-square-foot operation on five floors. But the retailer also had been looking to sell that property and build a new, smaller store along Business Interstate 85.

Wood-Armfield/Utility Craft fell off Furniture/Today’s Top 100 this year with estimate 2012 sales of $58.5 million, down 9.3% from the year before. That includes sales from Gallahan’s.