NC furniture maker is going out of business, lays off 200 near Greensboro
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Prepac to shut Whitsett factory, eliminate 200 jobs amid wind-down.
- Company cites low-cost Chinese imports and weak North American demand.
- State incentives funded 131 jobs; closure highlights industry decline.
A furniture maker whose consolidation in North Carolina last year drew praise from the White House is laying off 200 workers at its Guilford County factory as it goes entirely out of business.
“After careful consideration and efforts to find a sustainable path forward for the business and prospects of Prepac Manufacturing, it has made the difficult decision to begin an orderly wind-down of all operations,” read a company statement Thursday to The News & Observer.
Prepac cited global competition, including “the continued influx of low-cost Chinese imports.” As part of its impending closure, it notified North Carolina Commerce Department officials this week that it will eliminate 200 positions at its campus in Whitsett, a small town halfway between Greensboro and Burlington.
The company produces ready-to-assemble home furniture, which it sells online through retailers like Target, Amazon and Walmart. In 2020, North Carolina awarded Prepac an economic incentive to open a new East Coast factory in Whitsett. The company created 131 jobs there through its grant and received close to $300,000 in state tax breaks, N.C. Department of Commerce records show.
Last March, Prepac announced it would move all manufacturing to Whitsett, shifting production from its longtime headquarters in British Columbia. Republican leaders credited this move to President Donald Trump’s trade policies, with Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina posting on X, “THE TRUMP EFFECT AT WORK FOR NORTH CAROLINA!”
The White House also included the news in a weekly roundup of “wins.” Prepac at the time disputed tariffs contributed to it leaving Canada. In a statement provided to The N&O last year, Prepac CEO Nick Bozikis called the decision to centralize operations in North Carolina “the product of many months of consideration and analysis, and began long before any tariff risks to Prepac’s business arose.”
“The last several years have been challenging for North American furniture manufacturers with overall demand currently lower than when we opened the North Carolina facility in 2021,” he added, noting that around 70% of the company’s demand is on the East Coast.
Prepac was locally owned until the Toronto-based private equity firm TorQuest Partners acquired it in 2019. The company’s arrival the following year marked a win for a diminished North Carolina furniture industry. Between 1993 and 2022, the state lost 60% of sector jobs as competition increased from less expensive Asian imports. Whitsett is a 30-minute drive from High Point, considered “The Furniture Capital of the World” for its density of manufacturers and biannual market.
Today, the vast majority of wood and metal furniture is imported. Where North Carolina furniture manufacturers still thrive is in high-end custom furniture, according to Andy Counts, head of the American Home Furnishings Alliance in High Point.
“This is a product that China and other countries really don’t want to compete on,” he told The N&O in 2024.
This story was originally published March 6, 2026 at 3:20 PM.
