Will focus on Florida business

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, November 19, 2008

ATLANTA — Hudson's Furniture Showrooms is closing its four Broyhill by Hudson's stores here to focus on its Florida business.

Joshua Hudson, general manager of the Atlanta region and son of CEO Fred Hudson, confirmed that the stores in Alpharetta, Douglasville, Duluth and Kennesaw, Ga., will close after the going-out-of-business sales wind down at the end of February.

Liquidator Great American Furniture Services has been hired to run the sale.

Sanford, Fla.-based Hudson's, which also operates 14 Hudson's stores in Florida and one in Pineville, N.C., and operates five Ashley Furniture HomeStores in North Carolina with a partner, entered the Atlanta market about three years ago. Broyhill is the midpriced chain's largest supplier, but Hudson's also sells lines such as Lane, Berkline, AICO, Lexington, Sealy and Simmons.

Joshua Hudson said that while business conditions have been tough, and that played into the decision to consolidate, the Atlanta stores did a lot of business and "we have a great niche with Broyhill in the market."

But those stores are leased, while most other Hudson's operations are owned. The leases were expensive, Hudson said, "and we just didn't want to renew."

"The decision isn't going to impact our company or any of the rest of our locations," he said. "It's just a decision to focus on our core and locations we own and have been occupying for (a long time)."

"Our decision to close the Atlanta locations was primarily based on the fact all of the locations are leased," Hudson added. "The current economic conditions were a factor in our decision, but not the main reason. We felt like an opportunity to consolidate our company would be a strong move for the long run and allow us to focus on our core stores in Florida."