Who's in and who's out?

One of the most interesting things in our FDM 300 research this year was that we were able to confirm that only a few companies in the group of 300 are closed and not in operation. There are some cases in which we weren't able to speak with a live person, but have no other information that a company has closed. I read that Klein Merriman of the Assn. for Retail Environments (http://www.nasfm.org/) made a similar observation about the store fixture industry in a recent issue of ARE's magazine.
One of the companies that we did identify as being out of business was fixture maker Penloyd in Tulsa. New Generations Furniture in Tennessee has also closed. PeopLoungers closed its Mississippi upholstery plant last year. Owens Inc. closed its hardwood flooring plants in Wisconsin a few weeks ago. Las Vegas-based Cabinetec's cabinet factory in St. George, Utah, is reported to be closed, but we have been unable to confirm. New Jersey's Mielach Woodwork has reportedly closed and its equipment is up for auction. More about these, a few mergers and new companies to follow.