My husband and I just got back from Hickory, NC where we took a tour of the H&M factory. I wanted to share about our experience there for anyone who might be thinking about taking a tour.

We had dropped off some of our boys to hike part of the AT and then headed over to Hickory. The tour was absolutely well worth the drive! Jimmy Moore was delightful! Even though he was swamped with work getting ready for the market (it seems our timing wasn’t the best!) he gave us a very thorough and informative tour. He and all of the employees were so very nice and it was obvious that they enjoyed their work. He took us through the entire 17 step process and spent 2 hours with us. We had our 19mo old son with us and Mr. Moore really doted on him---just like a grandfather. He gave him a lambskin football and some qualux (sp?) for me to make him a pillow. In fact, all of the employees stopped their work to speak to us and our little one. Everyone seemed to really enjoy their work and the atmosphere was very friendly.

We were able to sit in lots of frames, which didn’t making our decision easier although we are getting closer---I love them all!! My husband was especially impressed with how fast and accurate some of the cutters work. It is amazing that they still have fingers left after using those electric rotary cutters! One thing that we were surprised about was seeing some plywood in some of the frames. I suppose it adds strength to certain parts of frames. We also saw some molded material (don’t know what that was called) in some of the frames. Mr. Moore said that they used that where they had to make really thin joins and wood would be more apt to split in those areas. Another thing my husband was impressed with is the fact that the hardwood they use comes from the northern areas of the country, instead of local NC wood, because it is harder and higher quality. He is a forester and knows his wood so he knew that to be true and even though furniture frames probably didn’t need to be “harder,” it still shows the use of highest quality materials.

Overall, we were thoroughly impressed with the whole process. Jimmy Moore is obviously (and rightly so) proud of his business, his employees and his product. He could easily delegate the tours to someone else but he seems to really enjoy meeting the people who are interested in his furniture. If you are ever in the Hickory, NC area, I'd encourage you to get Duane to set up a tour for you. It was well worth our while!