NC furniture maker investing $6 million, adding 100 jobs with plant outside Charlotte

A North Carolina furniture maker will spend $5.9 million to expand its manufacturing in the Charlotte region, creating 100 jobs, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said Wednesday.

Vanguard Furniture Company Inc., based in Conover, plans to open its eighth manufacturing facility that will focus on upholstery and finishings in Morganton, according to the news release. The new site also will include a warehouse and distribution operations.

“We selected Morganton because the local community has hundreds of generational craftsmen,” Vanguard Furniture President Andy Bray said in a statement. Bray said many of the high-end furniture company’s artisans and craftsmen who live in the Morganton area will no longer have to commute to the Conover headquarters.

Morganton is about 77 miles northwest of Charlotte.

In 2009, Vanguard Furniture made a sofa for Sasha and Malia Obama that was shipped for delivery through retailer Anthropologie.

The average annual salary for Vanguard’s new jobs is $42,536, according to Cooper’s office. Burke County’s average annual wage is $39,499.

For its investment, Vanguard Furniture will receive a state performance-based grant of $250,000. The One NC Fund provides financial assistance to local governments to help attract economic investment and to create jobs, the news release said.

Called the “Furniture Capital of the World,” North Carolina is the No. 1 furniture manufacturer in the U.S. employing over 35,000 people, according to the state Department of Commerce website.

Over 50 years old, Vanguard Furniture is a family-held company with 680 workers at seven manufacturing facilities in Conover and Hillsville, Va., and showrooms in High Point and Las Vegas.