New orders for residential furniture increased 12 percent in October compared to a year earlier, according to the latest survey of manufacturers and distributors by High Point accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard.

New orders for residential furniture increased 12 percent in October compared to a year earlier, according to the latest survey of manufacturers and distributors by High Point accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard.

One-time furniture manufacturing giant Vaughan Furniture, Galax, VA, will close operations. The company, which at it peak employed 1,800 in multiple factory sites, now wholesales furniture and has just a handful of workers.

One-time furniture manufacturing giant Vaughan Furniture, Galax, VA, will close operations. The company, which at it peak employed 1,800 in multiple factory sites, now wholesales furniture and has just a handful of workers.

One-time furniture manufacturing giant Vaughan Furniture, Galax, VA, will close operations. The company, which at it peak employed 1,800 in multiple factory sites, now wholesales furniture and has just a handful of workers.

One-time furniture manufacturing giant Vaughan Furniture, Galax, VA, will close operations. The company, which at it peak employed 1,800 in multiple factory sites, now wholesales furniture and has just a handful of workers.

One-time furniture manufacturing giant Vaughan Furniture, Galax, VA, will close operations. The company, which at it peak employed 1,800 in multiple factory sites, now wholesales furniture and has just a handful of workers.

One-time furniture manufacturing giant Vaughan Furniture, Galax, VA, will close operations. The company, which at it peak employed 1,800 in multiple factory sites, now wholesales furniture and has just a handful of workers.

Wal-mart's (NYSE: WMT) Sams Club unit has launched a furniture collection designed by Nicholas Sparks, the best-selling novelist and screenwriter. Some pieces of the Black Mountain Collection are made in the U.S.