Eleni Baum
ccSCOOP News It was the painful end of an era for area residents when LB Industries went on the auction block on August 21. People came with vans and trucks from all along the eastern seaboard to the auction at the old L & B site on Third Street in Hudson. Along with locals, people pulled in from Maryland and Georgia to find a bargain. They bought and carted off what was left of the high-end furniture manufactured at the site, along with heavy equipment and tools of the industry. The auction conducted by Thompson Auctioneers, Inc., of Ohio, took a full day to complete.
A staple of Columbia County industry, the company had been manufacturing furniture for more than six decades. Originally located in Stottville, where they manufactured furniture under the name L & B Contract Industries, the company moved to its present location in Hudson almost thirty years ago. In January 2001, however, L & B filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company found itself unable to compete with the tidal wave of inexpensive furniture being crafted and imported from overseas, particularly Asia and Eastern Europe.
In 2003, the company was purchased by two investors from New York City, who pumped roughly $5 million into the company to keep it afloat. They renamed the company LB Furniture Industries LLC and hired Les Lak to revamp the operation. With 30 years manufacturing experience behind him, Lak changed the course of the company. Rather than compete with inexpensive imported furniture, they upgraded their product, creating award-winning high-end furniture for restaurants and the hospitality industry. The designer chairs, some of them selling for roughly $800 a piece, were snapped up by such places as the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, Disney resorts, and Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants. On Thursday, there were a few left, to be snapped up by people seeking a bargain or something to remember LB Industries by.
At their height, L & B Furniture had a workforce of 250, including field representatives and office personnel. But despite promising profitability two years ago and three medals for design won only months ago, the economic downturn and credit crunch crippled the company’s efforts to retool and restage. In March, the company again filed for Chapter 11, and by May, it had ceased operations, putting the last 50 employees out of work.
According to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District in White Plains, LB Furniture Industries LLC lists assets of $3.53 million and debts of $6.59 million, despite help from the Hudson city government, which provided tax breaks, and the Power for Jobs program, which provided lower-cost electricity for plant operations.
With the closure of a plant that had provided employment stability since the end of World War II comes the end of an era for Columbia County.
The vacant 300,000-square-foot plant is available for rent. Les Lak is now vice-president of operations at Blasch Precision Ceramics, Inc., in Albany.
Wednesday, August 20, was inspection day in preparation for the auction. Hudson resident Lisa Durfee rode her bike through the giant manufacturing facility, filming the items to be auctioned the next day. Her “LB Factory Bike Tour” video is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=nQL0nTGU_4o
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