Burlington Calls It Quits

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 2/4/2005 1:03:00 PM

MONTICELLO, Ark. — Unable to reach sustainable sales goals, Burlington Rug Corp., an importer and manufacturer of bath, accent and area rugs, will shut down its operations over the next 60 days.

"We were unable to achieve the increase in sales volume we had anticipated and were unsuccessful in our attempts to merge with other companies," explained Gary Brookshire, CEO.

Brookshire joined the company in August as interim CEO upon the departure of former owner Saeid Korhani. At that point the company also assumed new ownership — Prudential Capital Partners LLC.

Since then, Brookshire said, the company has been plagued by rumors of business troubles. While its rug lines at retail were selling "extraordinarily well," he said, the rumors seemed to hinder further growth and new placement opportunities.

"The problem we had was due to continuing concerns regarding Burlington 's insolvency," Brookshire said. "We were unable to gain the degree of new placements we needed to have a sustainable business. It's sad. The employees at Burlington are some of the hardest working, most committed people I've worked with in my career."

Over the next two months, Burlington will continue supplying its current retail customers until it makes arrangements with other rug companies to take over its lines, "so that our loyal customers will feel no effect of our departure," he said.

The company has also put its production equipment up for sale, which includes many FRX tufting machines.