Townsend Flooring will open its doors January 2011 in Warren, Ark., in the former Armstrong (Sykes) plant. The company will manufacture 5/8-inch sawn-face unfinished engineered hardwood flooring exclusively for Maxwell Hardwood Flooring (Monticello, Ark.) under the Townsend Additions trademark. The company expects to employ 25 people at start-up and run at 50 percent capacity in the first few months. The new company is co-owned by Tommy Maxwell, Kristi Maxwell-Prince, Shay Dugal and Wil Maxwell; the company's day-to-day operations will be overseen by Wil Maxwell and Dugal, who is also co-owner and general manager of sister company Ouachita Hardwood Flooring (Warren, Ark.).
Townsend's engineered flooring will complement solid unfinished flooring products from Maxwell Hardwood Flooring and Ouachita. "This product completes our package of unfinished, U.S.A.-manufactured hardwood floors," said Tommy Maxwell, who is also president and CEO of Maxwell Hardwood Flooring. Maxwell Hardwood Flooring purchased the longstanding Townsend trademark from Potlatch Corporation in the mid-1990s.
