When a company bears the name of its hometown, it can be hard to separate the two. Such is the case with Norwalk Furniture and the town of Norwalk in Northern Ohio. Sue Lesch is the towns mayor. It really is our flagship company, said Sue Lesch, Norwalks mayor. Its the company were proud of. Were known for furniture all over the country. For more than a hundred years, Norwalk Furniture made custom-order sofas and chairs in its Ohio factory. For a long time, it was the biggest business in town, employing about 700 in this town of 17,000. Jump ahead to 2008. The housing crisis depressed demand for furniture. The companys bank pulled its credit line. Meanwhile, the towns unemployment rate was heading toward 18 percent. Norwalk Furniture closed its doors. The closing of Norwalk Furniture was just such a symbol of not only the devastation we were seeing in many companies, but just a shock to the very system of this city just because of the importance of that company, Mayor Lesch said. So,
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