The Blubber

Prepac, a manufacturer of ready-to-assemble home furniture, is reportedly shutting down most, if not all, of its production in western Canada and shifting operations to its Whitsett, North Carolina, facility, which opened in 2021.

Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, announced last week that the company plans to cut approximately 170 jobs in Delta, British Columbia, and relocate manufacturing to the U.S.

The union accused Prepac of using U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods as a pretext for moving production.

A request for comment from Prepac CEO Nick Bozikis on Wednesday was not immediately returned. However, Bozikis told Business Intelligence for BC and The Daily Dive, a Vancouver-based online news outlet, that the transition was planned before tariff discussions began. He added that the Whitsett facility offers closer proximity to the company’s largest customer base in the eastern U.S.

Prepac expanded to Whitsett in 2020 after securing economic development incentives from North Carolina and Guilford County, committing to a $27.1 million investment. The company leased a 260,000-square-foot main building, which was sold in early 2022 for $20.6 million, alongside a recent expansion.

According to the latest North Carolina Department of Commerce report on state economic-development grants, dated Sept. 30, Prepac’s Jobs Development Investment Grant (JDIG), awarded in August 2020, remains active and has led to the creation of 129 jobs. The company’s full JDIG target is 181 jobs over five years.

Founded in Vancouver in 1979, Prepac opened a showroom at the High Point furniture market in 2002 and was acquired in 2019 by Toronto-based private equity firm Torquest Partners.

The company sells its products through major online retailers such as Amazon, Wayfair, and Walmart, with direct-to-consumer shipping across North America, according to Torquest.