Haverty Furniture Announces All Florida Stores Now Open After Hurricane Charley

Furniture World Magazine

Clarence H. Smith, president and chief executive officer, said, "Many of the areas affected by Hurricane Charley are in our markets. We are saddened by the loss of lives and the devastation to many communities that we serve. Hurricane Charley has impacted our Florida operations but we are pleased to report that none of our employees were injured. "In advance of the approaching storm, we closed 16 of our retail stores at various times and readied them for possible severe weather and halted home deliveries. We sustained damage to our Ft. Myers, Florida store, which was undergoing remodeling, but yesterday all of our Florida retail stores were open for business. However, our local warehouse that serves the Orlando market suffered extensive roof damage resulting in the loss of all inventory. Our insurance will cover losses from Hurricane Charley above a $250,000 deductible level. "Our risk management, real estate, warehousing, distribution and systems teams have been working diligently to mitigate and assess damage and restore operations. We estimate that necessary repairs can be made so that the Orlando facility will be operational and deliveries made beginning this Saturday. Although we expect there will be some delay in product flow, substantially all of the warehouse inventory were items carried in our regional distribution centers. "We are contacting our customers and rescheduling deliveries in the Tampa, Orlando, Ft. Myers, Lakeland and Naples areas. As we work to serve our customers, we acknowledge and express our appreciation to the scores of emergency personnel working to meet the needs of the affected individuals and businesses across Florida," concluded Smith. Havertys is a full-service home furnishings retailer with 114 showrooms in 15 southern and central states providing its customers with a wide selection of quality merchandise in middle- to upper-middle price ranges. Additional information is available on the Company's website at http://www.havertys.com/.