Piedmont furniture maker abruptly shuts down

TAYLORSVILLE — Home furnishings manufacturer and retailer Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams closed its doors Saturday and has notified employees of the layoff.

Signs were posted on the truck gate and office door of the company’s Taylorsville plant on Saturday announcing the immediate closing as well as the closing of the company’s Hiddenite and Statesville plants, The Taylorsville Times reported. Employees were instructed that they should not report to work today, and remote workers were instructed not to log in.

Interim CEO Chris Moye began his leadership role with the company April 21. According to the Times article, a letter from Moye was also posted on the office door along with the announcement of the closings:

“The purpose of this letter is to provide you with official notice under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

“As you may know, the current economic climate has presented significant challenges to the furniture industry. While we have been buoyed by the support of our wonderful employees, like yourself, The Mitchell Gold Co. d/b/a Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams (the “Company”) has recently and unexpectedly learned that we are unable to secure critical financing to continue business operations. In the wake of this unfortunate development, the Company will sadly need to wind down operations and terminate the employment of our employees beginning on August 26, 2023. Because these events were unforeseen, we were unable to provide you and others with more notice of this difficult decision.”

The letter said that the last employees would be laid off Oct. 25 unless they are asked to continue for two weeks more.

A representative for Mitchell Gold could not be reached for comment.