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Furniture company purchased its fourth building with eye on former United/Lane dealers

STALEY, N.C. — Promotional furniture and mattress manufacturer Amor Furniture and Bedding has expanded its operations with the purchase of a former furniture factory in Randolph County, N.C.

The acquired property in Staley formerly housed Benchcraft Upholstery. Officials said that the sale included all contents, fixtures, machinery and fabric that remained after the closure of Benchcraft last year following the passing of company owner Craig Wright.

Amor President Spiro Laousis said the purchase of the existing inventory allowed Amor to quickly restart operations and prepare for the fall launch of a mid-priced furniture product line designed to meet the needs of former United Furniture/Lane retailers.

The property is the fourth building purchase for Amor Furniture and Bedding, based in Ramseur, N.C., and will support its furniture and mattress manufacturing, import and warehouse operations.

Laousis noted that the latest acquisition follows an earlier purchase of “most of United/Lane’s Trinity, N.C. #31 production plant intact from the bankruptcy,” adding that the revamped plant will be used to support the line targeting former United/Lane dealers and featuring designs similar to United/Lane bestsellers. The new line will debut at during October High Point Market.

“My focus is on the new Lane/United inspired lineup by showcasing the top sellers from right before they closed,” Laousis said. “In particular, I want to debut the stationary upholstery and highlight the sofa sleepers. They are something that I believe is missing in the average dealer’s inventory. Our fellow manufacturers simply don’t make them, but it is one of our many fortes because we make quality mattress units with Serta and Sealy specs but without the name.

“The new acquisition has everyone in the company giddy with excitement,” he added. “We were all worried that we wouldn’t have the space or time to develop, roll out and produce the new line-up in time for market with our current space restraints. The old Benchcraft plant in Staley fell from the sky and at the perfect time.”

Buyers can see the new line at Amor’s showroom at 118 S. Main St. during market, and Laousis said that his team is excited about providing a “seamless solution” to challenges presented by the United Furniture/Lane and Klaussner closings.

“Everyone feels that they are on the ground floor of this amazing opportunity,” he said. “We don’t see ourselves as just making and selling furniture as much as solving a huge problem with the vacuum in the marketplace left by United, Lane and now Klaussner. We will be providing a seamless transition to that United/Lane/Klaussner base to a lineup that is almost identical to what they had before.”

Laousis added that Amor Furniture and Bedding is also hiring for many positions, “from sales representatives to upholsterers.” He added that experience with United/Lane is “a plus.”

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Dawn Staley and South Carolina have ended the season of an HBCU squad in each of the past three seasons, she’s always supporting them when she can.

Norfolk State head coach Larry Vickers Jr. talked about meeting Staley for himself as the two teams had dinner the night before their NCAA Tournament game.

“I didn’t understand the magnitude around her before I really personally met her. Then you’re like, Oh, OK I see why you’re the figurehead for women’s basketball. She does an excellent job, makes everybody feel loved and comfortable,” Vickers said during MEAC media day. “ They took us to Ruth’s Chris. South Carolina paid for our meal the night before.”

The meal at the swanky steakhouse cost a pretty penny, but Staley took care of the bill.

“A lot of them had never been, and I didn’t look at their pre-orders,” Vickers said. “So, you know, they were ordering entrees and two sides not realizing that the sides are shareables. So the table had no room. The table had no room at all. But we figured it out.”

South Carolina would go on to win 72-40 as it rolled towards the Final Four. Dawn Staley came into the Norfolk State locker room following the game to talk to the team and was very complimentary of the team. Mississippi Valley State is the lone HBCU on South Carolina’s schedule this year, but don’t be surprised if it has to play another HBCU again in the NCAA Tournament. As for Norfolk State, the reigning MEAC Champions will take on William & Mary on Monday to open up the season.

*Correction: The original article stated South Carolina didn’t have any HBCUs on its schedule,

Related Items:Dawn Staley, featured, HBCU sports, MEAC, Norfolk State

STANLEY, N.C. (WBTV) - Dozens of people angry about a recent fire department restructuring were left standing outside the Stanley Town Hall on Monday evening as the small room inside filled up with people.

The town did not provide a livestream of the board meeting. It was the first council meeting since the last meeting where the board voted to restructure the fire department, leaving the top two fire chiefs without a job or a warning of what was to come.

The entire department was told they would need to reapply for their jobs, firefighters said, leaving 31 members walking off the job.

RELATED: ‘Demand an answer’: Amid mass firefighter resignation, Stanley town officials say little

On Monday, people left standing outside were still allowed to sign up to speak in the public comment portion of the meeting.

Mayor Steven Denton invoked a state law, allowing six people outside to participate in public comment regarding the fire department, representing a group of 13 Denton said had signed up. Out of the approximately three dozen seats for the public inside, about half had been reserved for friends and family of council members being newly sworn in.

Patrick Hullet, son of former Stanley assistant fire chief Michael Hullet, as well as his sister Gracie, both spoke in support of their father and previous members of the department.

“We’re all here, we all want answers, and we want to talk. We want to speak and we want to know what’s going on,” Hullett told WBTV.

Assistant fire chief Ashley Price stayed throughout the mass resignation, he said in public comment on Monday, until he was asked to turn his gear in this past weekend. That happened this past Saturday, he had previously told WBTV, after a surprise visit from the fire marshal had occurred.

“I expected more than that from the town I vote in and pay taxes for,” said another former fighter who had resigned, Michael Russell.

“These two individuals’ full-time jobs were their first and foremost commitment,” Denton said in a prepared statement, referring to former fire chief Eric Withers and assistant chief Michael Hullett. The risk should a disaster occur in the town of Stanley while they were at their full-time jobs was high, Denton added.

Denton called some of the outrage over the decision “disgusting” in its personal attacks. He emphasized at several points throughout the meeting that he would not be taking questions.

Interim chief Gary Hilton said they had responded to 35 calls since the restructuring occurred, with an average of seven people responding per call.

Out of 26 people on the staff, 20 of them on staff are state-certified, Hilton said.

Denton declined to take questions from WBTV on camera after the meeting but did tell a reporter that he had wanted to but had not given the former fire chiefs an advance alert about the restructuring, because the town attorney had recommended against it.

Copyright 2023 WBTV. All rights reserved.

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After a 1-10 start to the 2023-24 NFL season, Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper fired head coach Frank Reich nearly 10 months after hiring him.

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The Carolina Panthers fired running backs/assistant head coach Duce Staley and quarterbacks coach Josh McCown in the wake of head coach Frank Reich’s Monday dismissal.

Staley and McCown were both brought to Carolina to be part of Reich’s lauded coaching staff in February.

Staley, a longtime running backs coach, had been coaching in the NFL since 2011. McCown was hired as a first-year position coach to mentor the team’s first overall pick, quarterback Bryce Young.

Staley, who played college football at South Carolina, said he decided to leave Detroit for Charlotte largely because of Reich. As a West Columbia, South Carolina, native, he also looked forward to spending more time with his family closer to home.

Staley oversaw an underachieving running back room in his 11 games at the helm. The Panthers only scored three rushing touchdowns in 11 games and averaged 3.8 yards per carry. That lack of success came even as Staley’s longtime pupil, Miles Sanders, joined him in free agency. Sanders was ultimately benched after a brutal stretch to start the season, as he fumbled twice in the key moments of two major losses.

While Chuba Hubbard saw his stock rise as a starter with Sanders taking a backseat, the running back room failed to find consistent success, which impacted the entire offense.

Staley was a noted advocate for the signings of Sanders and wide receiver DJ Chark. Both players struggled to meet expectations under the guidance of Reich, Staley and others.

McCown, who played nearly 20 years in the NFL, was considered a prospective head coach of the future when he arrived in Charlotte. McCown had gained a reputation for his leadership and mentoring as a player, and after flirting with jobs in the past, finally took the leap with Reich as his first and only quarterbacks coach in Carolina.

McCown mentored Young, who has underwhelmed with a poor supporting cast around him. Young has managed to throw just nine touchdowns in 10 games. The rookie has yet to eclipse 250 passing yards in a game, and he has a passer rating of 74.9 with a completion percentage of 61.7%.

With McCown and Staley out, the Panthers will need to shuffle the deck even further on offense. Special advisor and senior assistant Jim Caldwell has a vast amount of experience with quarterbacks and will likely to take a heavier role in Young’s development. Staley’s successor doesn’t seem as obvious upon his departure.

This story was originally published November 27, 2023, 2:46 PM.

Thanks to an NCAA rule change, the South Carolina women’s basketball team is adding a fourth assistant coach — and she’s a well known Gamecocks alum.

Former USC point guard Khadijah Sessions is joining Dawn Staley’s staff, the program announced Thursday. Sessions’ hiring follows a rule change that went into effect July 1, allowing Division I women’s basketball programs to add two more assistant coaches. They were previously limited to three assistants.

“I’m super excited to be joining Coach Staley and the staff,” Sessions said in a release. “I gave every inch of me to this university as a player, and I’m ready to do the same as an assistant coach. I absolutely love the University of South Carolina, and to be doing this alongside the GOAT – I couldn’t ask for a better college start. Coaching is something I take pride in, and I’m just ready to get to work, learn and grow.”

Sessions played four seasons for the Gamecocks from 2013-16, helping South Carolina win five SEC regular-season/tournament titles and reach the first Final Four in program history. After graduation, she played overseas in Finland and for Team USA and Staley in the 2019 FIBA AmeriCup.

Since retiring, Sessions has worked as a private trainer and AAU coach in the Columbia area. She also spent two seasons as a Ridge View High School basketball coach, leading the JV boys team as head coach and working as a varsity boys assistant as the Blazers won the Class 5A championship in 2022.

Sessions joins associate head coach Lisa Boyer and assistant coaches Jolette Law and Winston Gandy as assistants for Staley’s 2023-24 team. Gandy, formerly of Duke, was hired earlier this year to replace longtime assistant Fred Chmiel, who accepted Bowling Green’s head coaching job.

Sessions’ duties will be slightly different than those three coaches, though. According to the NCAA, the additional coaches approved for women’s basketball by the Division I council in January “may engage in coaching activities but may not recruit off campus.”

Those rules will apply to Sessions in her new position, a team spokesperson confirmed to The State. South Carolina, if it chooses, could add a second assistant coach (and fifth total) with the same capabilities as Sessions

“There are few people who understand and embody what our program is about like Khadijah,” Staley said in a release. “From her vision and communication as a point guard to how she translated that into coaching at the high school level, she is ready for this move into the college ranks. I can’t wait to watch and help her develop in our sport.”

Sessions, a 5-foot-8 guard, was a Parade All-American and four-time South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association selection at Myrtle Beach High School.

After coming off the bench as a freshman, she started 97 of her last 101 games for USC, averaging 5.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game. South Carolina won three SEC regular-season championships and two SEC Tournament championships during Sessions’ four seasons and reached the 2015 Final Four.

Sessions graduated from South Carolina fourth in career games played (134) and fifth in SEC games played (62). She also set a school record (since tied by others including Aliyah Boston and Brea Beal) for single-season games played with 37. Staley, in a tweet Thursday, described her as “the most energized, the most talkative, the most in your face defender that graced a Gamecock jersey.”

After graduating from USC in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in hospitality, restaurant, tourism management, Sessions played professionally for Kouvot, a professional team in Finland.

In retirement, Sessions has helped coach 10 players who’ve gone onto play college basketball. That includes former South Carolina standout GG Jackson, who overlapped with Sessions at Ridge View before going one-and-done with the Gamecocks in 2022-23. Jackson was drafted No. 45 overall by the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies last month.

Look who's coming back home @Ksessions_05!https://t.co/fllu7fq40h pic.twitter.com/oB2arMuwsK

— South Carolina Women's Basketball (@GamecockWBB) July 6, 2023

An older @GamecockWBB birdie just flew into the nest……let’s welcome the most energized, the most talkative, the most in your face defender that graced a Gamecock jersey……@Ksessions_05 you already know….let’s gooo!!

— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) July 6, 2023

Let’s get to work coach! ? https://t.co/CvbFgIJzEB

— Khadijah Sessions (@Ksessions_05) July 6, 2023

Blessed

— Khadijah Sessions (@Ksessions_05) July 6, 2023

My sista ... can't wait to watch you continue to grow in your greatness as you enter this next chapter of your journey! https://t.co/86DngxWtc9

— Asia Dozier (@AD_theCOACH) July 6, 2023

Boom. Soooooo deserved. Welcome home! https://t.co/icdFZmuB83

— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) July 6, 2023

This is so dope @Ksessions_05 https://t.co/jvvyVEfPjI

— Destiny Littleton (@dstnylttltn24) July 6, 2023

This story was originally published July 6, 2023, 10:37 AM.