Riverside Furniture sheds more jobs

Slow market conditions have once again forced Fort Smith-based Riverside Furniture to shed jobs.

The furniture manufacturing and distribution company will shed 58 jobs — 43 in Fort Smith and 15 in Russellville — beginning April 27, Evan Breedlove, Riverside’s human resource manager, told The City Wire.

Riverside will employ about 150 at its Fort Smith and Russellville operations after April 27, Breedlove said.

The company announced in early January it was cutting 250 jobs because of slow market conditions. That announcement included this note: “(The home furnishings industry) is grappling with an unbelievably swift down turn in business as consumers react to the financial crises by deferring the purchase of home furnishings and other durable goods. Our company is not immune to these market forces and we must react and adjust our operations accordingly.”

What remains of Riverside is much less than what it was just 10 years ago. In the late 1990s-early 2000s, the company employed 1,400 full-time workers, with anywhere from 200-300 temporary workers, Breedlove said.

Breedlove said the sales decline is leveling off, and the company is hopeful sales will begin to grow.

“But we don’t know what it will do. Your guess is as good as mine,” he said.