Rowe Furniture Creditors Listed

McLean, Va. —Several U.S. fabric suppliers are now unsecured creditors owed a total of more than $2.5 million by manufacturer/retailer Rowe Furniture.

The suppliers, already hard pressed by a rising tide of imports that forced a sweeping overhaul of their operations and put their earnings under pressure, took the hit when Rowe Furniture, a major customer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Rowe, an upholstered furniture manufacturer hammered by slumping sales, import competition, and lingering problems from a flawed computerized planning system, filed Sept. 19 in a federal court in Alexandria, Va. As part of its reorganization plan, it will sell its Storehouse retail unit, a 73-unit Atlanta-based chain of furniture stores it bought in 1999. In its most recent ranking of the 100 largest furniture stores, HTT sister publication Furniture/Today pegged Storehouse as No. 51.

Foam producer Carpenter Company of Richmond, Va., leading the list of Rowe's 20 largest suppliers, was owed $893,250. Second in line was embattled Quaker Fabric of Fall River, Mass., owed $727,250.

Morgan Fabrics of Los Angeles took fifth place on the list of creditors, with a balance of $320,906. In seventh position was New York City-based Richloom Fabrics Group, owed $212,859. Immediately behind Richloom was Tietex International of High Point, N.C., which operates the former Burlington Industries upholstery operation, owed $210,751.

Also on the list of top creditors list was jobber Barrow Industries of Norwood, Mass., owed $182,713. Pacific Coast Feather Cushion Co. of Pico Rivera, Calif. (Neil Puro, president), was owed $164,757.

Rowe is one of the nation's largest upholstered furniture manufacturers, with shipments of $162.8 million. When combined with the Storehouse retail operation, Rowe sales totaled $299.4 million last year. In its bankruptcy filing, Rowe said it had assets of $130.8 million, and debts of $93.3 million.