GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Baker Furniture, a company founded in southwestern Michigan more than 100 years ago, will move its Grand
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\nRapids headquarters and warehousing operations to North Carolina, bringing 70 jobs.
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\nThe company announced Tuesday that it will consolidate its operations in Grand Rapids and Hildebran, N.C., where it now has a manufacturing and warehousing site, at a 344,000-square-foot facility in Hickory, N.C. Hickory is about six miles from Hildebran.<\/p>\n
The changes will take place in phases during the next two years, the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Baker is part of Kohler Co., a privately held business based in Kohler, Wis. Baker, which designs and makes wood and upholstered furniture, has factories in Hildebran; High Point, N.C.; and Mocksville, N.C.<\/p>\n
With the move, all of Baker’s U.S. manufacturing and distribution operations and most of its administrative offices will be in North Carolina. The company will get a $76,000 state grant for bringing the jobs, the office of Gov. Mike Easley said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Kevin Ward, president of subsidiary Baker Knapp & Tubbs Inc., said having its operations close to each other has helped the company’s success.<\/p>\n
“The fact that this is the end of a chapter in the story of Grand Rapids is sad,” Max Shangle, a professor and chairman of the furniture design program at Kendall College of Art and Design, told The Grand Rapids Press.<\/p>\n
For decades, Baker — which began in Allegan as Cook, Baker & Co. in 1890 — helped solidify Grand Rapids’ national reputation as a leading producer of furniture. It closed a Holland plant in 2004.<\/p>\n
Just two residential furniture companies remain in Grand Rapids. They are Kindel Furniture Co. and Hekman Furniture Co.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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