There is lots going on at Hancock & Moore these days, they are spending quite a bit on infrastructure to improve their facilities. They are re-opening Plant 2 and installing air conditioning in it. That's where the hardwood frames are made and they are also adding an upholstery line for more capacity in that building. That's good news! Severe high-grade Plywood shortages and costs have been the main reason for the hardwood frame plant to go back on-line. They have also done a lot of upgrading to workspaces for their employees - new lighting for the factories, automated cutters, created an engineering department and made offices for all their customer service staff. The end result is better working conditions for all, and making an improved product for customers.

Price changes will be coming, looks like they will be going into effect around August 1st. That gives you a month to plan or make a purchase if so desired. This was not a simple "add a percentage" increase, they did a line-by-line study of every single item they make and re-calculated each piece. Some items will actually go down in price, others will remain the same, and other will go up. In particular, anything that is either 1) Tufted or 2) has Exposed Wood as part of the frame decor is going to have the most significant increases. As you may already know, the associates who can do tufting are the highest paid / most skilled workers in the plants and they have to pay them more to retain them, as other companies seek to lure them away. Exposed wood pieces will go up simply because solid wood materials costs are up in higher clear grade hardwoods.

The Town and County Line will be re-vamped and re-priced September 1 as of now. You will see new leather from South America going into the program, replacing the ones that previously were sourced in China. H&M plans to gradually exit from Chinese leather suppliers, who have become not only expensive, but are pretty much universally despised by a large part of their client base.

Order wait times are decreasing somewhat. Average time now is 20 to 24 weeks, down from 26 weeks. They are working hard to get things out the door. Some pieces will still take longer, be aware of that as well. If you have ever wanted a Hancock and Moore button-tufted sofa, now may be a good time to get that order going and save yourself some money.