The largest wood flooring distributor in the U.S., Hoboken Wood Flooring LLC, Wayne, NJ, has shut its doors, according to news reports.



According to a report this week from local paper The Record, sales had fallen about 25% each month for the past year -the distributor's commercial business development manager attributed the losses to the housing downturn, competition from manufacturers going direct, the company's push to expand nationally and potentially even go public.


The next step for Hoboken is to file for bankruptcy, though no officials from Hoboken have said whether they would do so. The distributor is already facing a lawsuit from two wood flooring manufacturers, Columbia Flooring Inc., and Millwood Specialty Flooring Inc., filed in New Jersey District Court on Oct. 30, 2007, demanding more than $1 million in overdue payment for product. (Lawsuit)

Hoboken is majority-owned by private equity firm Code Hennessey and Simmons, which invested in the distributor in 2005. At the start of 2006, Hoboken merged with floor-covering distributor Superior Products LLC, Elkridge, MD. Superior serves the mid-Atlantic region with floor covering in wood, ceramic, resilient, laminate and carpet.
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According to various reports, Hoboken's sales could be close to $700 million annually. According to Floor Covering Weekly, Hoboken's top executives left the company earlier this year.