Inwood announces it will cease operations

On Friday, Inwood Office Furniture announced it would be closing down operations this month.

According to a message from Glenn Sturm, chairman of Inwood Office Furniture, “the demand for quality wood private office furniture has continued to decline and because we have a committed purchaser for our plant and land, I regret to announce that Inwood Office Furniture will cease operations effective November 26, 2014.”

According to the release, Braun Family Properties LLC will be purchasing the property and Meyer Distributing, owned by the Braun family, will lease the building. Other companies may be leasing space there as well.

Citing the negative impact that the changes in the economy, work styles and technology have had on the office furniture market, the company has not rebounded from the 2008 recession as well as it had hoped. “We hoped the market for wood office furniture would return, but the last few years have caused us to believe this will not be the case,” Sturm said.

Inwood Office Furniture will pay all of the employees, supplier, and vendors in full as the business winds down. “Our ability to fund our operations for the past six years has been based upon the long-term financial success of our company from the previous years of operation,” Sturm said in the release. “The changes in the markets simply cannot be sustained indefinitely.”

Inwood Office Furniture has been in operation since 1948. According to the release, the decision to close has been very difficult and sad for the company that has been a vibrant source of employment for generations of individuals and families.

“This has always been our most important and cherished core value,” Sturm said. “Not being able to continue to provide jobs for local people and their families, and to have the efforts and sacrifices of our people for so many years, end without them being able to voluntarily retire with us, will always haunt me.”

Inwood Office Furniture began as the Jasper Table Company in 1948. Currently, the company has 85 employees.