Furniture retail giant makes big cuts as manufacturing shuts down

Furniture shaper Ashley is preparing to chopped hundreds of jobs successful Texas arsenic the institution consolidates its manufacturing operations.

According to the latest Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filing submitted to the Texas Workforce Commission, the 80-year-old family-owned furnishings concatenation plans to discontinue manufacturing operations astatine its manufacturing installation located astatine Scyene Road successful Mesquite, Texas.

The determination comes arsenic Ashley consolidates its Mesquite manufacturing operations with different facilities. As a result, it volition “permanently discontinue each manufacturing operations” effectual May 7, 2026, and laic disconnected 266 employees.

Ashley, which presently employs much than 35,000 squad members globally, is the world’s largest furnishings shaper and the largest shaper successful the United States. With office successful Arcadia, Wisconsin, Ashley has a web of manufacturing facilities and organisation centers crossed North America.

The institution notified employees of the determination connected March 5, adding that immoderate were offered the enactment to articulation Ashley’s different facilities oregon to capable disposable positions astatine its Distribution Center successful Mesquite, which is inactive operational.

The furnishings retail elephantine is optimistic that workers volition instrumentality up caller positions. If not, and if they proceed moving successful their existent positions until May 7, erstwhile their employment ends, they volition beryllium offered severance packages.

“Employees who bash not judge different roles and stay successful bully lasting volition proceed successful their existent relation until May 7, 2026, erstwhile their employment volition extremity and they’ll beryllium offered severance. We’ll beryllium gathering with employees soon to connection details astir different positions and imaginable commencement dates,” notes the WARN filing, adding that determination are nary bumping rights and nary worker is represented by a union.

The largest radical of impacted employees comprises 109 upholstery grooming workers, followed by 31 instrumentality operators and 24 packing employees, according to the filing.

Other positions see kit receiving, worldly handlers, operations supervisors, inspectors, and prime supervisors.

The layoffs travel arsenic the furnishings and location retail manufacture is facing year-over-year declines successful sales. According to information from the US Department of Commerce’s monthly retail sales, reported from Retail Dive, the location furnishing assemblage has seen continuous declines since the little surge during the pandemic, underscoring the ongoing pressures.

This is besides tied to the sluggish lodging market, which, until recently, was dubbed a seller’s market. And erstwhile lodging income are slow, it straight impacts the related goods industry. Add to this that, successful October 2025, the U.S. implemented 10% tariff connected timber and lumber and a 25% work connected upholstered furniture.