Back-to-back bad news hit Henry County furniture workers this week, with the latest blow delivered Wednesday to about 70 employees of Ridgeway Furniture Co. in Ridgeway.

Howard Miller Clock Co., a leading clockmaker headquartered in Zeeland, Mich., confirmed Thursday that it will close subsidiary Ridgeway Furniture, a company with an 81-year history in Henry County. The closing likely will be completed by the end of December.

After that, the only vestige of the company in Henry County might be Ridgeway and Martinsville Speedway's tradition of awarding a grandfather clock to NASCAR race winners.

Howard Miller purchased Ridgeway Clock Co. in November 2004 from Pulaski Furniture. The clock-making work moved to Zeeland in the spring of 2005. The Ridgeway plant's production focus became curio cabinets and wine cabinets, product lines more vulnerable to import competition than grandfather and mantel clocks.

The week's first batch of bad news also surfaced Wednesday, when Stanley Furniture announced that its plans to consolidate manufacturing operations in Henry County will cost about 250 workers their jobs.

The Ridgeway factory began as a Gravely Furniture plant in 1926. Pulaski Furniture bought the business in 1985 and renamed it Ridgeway Clock Co. When Howard Miller acquired Ridgeway 20 years later, Miller retained the well-known Ridgeway brand.

On Thursday, Mark Siciliano, Howard Miller's director of marketing, said the company hopes to transfer the work at Ridgeway to Zeeland to improve production efficiencies and gain economies of scale.

Like Stanley Furniture's top executive, who said Wednesday that layoffs at Stanley were related to tough market conditions, Siciliano said forces contributing to the Ridgeway closing included sagging sales industrywide in the furniture business.

Ironically, in 2005, Howard Miller said it would invest about $6 million to expand operations in Ridgeway after closing a curio cabinet plant in Mobile, Ala. That investment never happened, said Siciliano.

He said Howard Miller does not plan to seek federal Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits for the Ridgeway workers because "no jobs are going overseas." But workers, in a group of three or more, who believe their jobs have been affected by imports can petition the U.S. Department of Labor for TAA. Eligible workers can receive help with training, job search and relocation allowances, income support and other reemployment services.

Meanwhile, will NASCAR winners at Martinsville Speedway still, in fact, receive a Ridgeway clock? Siciliano was noncommittal.

"The decision to promote the Ridgeway brand of clocks at Martinsville Speedway is decided by the Ridgeway Clock Division," he said.

Tim Hall, deputy county administrator for Henry County, said he presumes the tradition will continue. The clocks haven't been made in Ridgeway since 2005, anyway, he said. Clay Campbell, president of Martinsville Speedway, could not be reached for comment.

Hall said Henry County has given away all of its Ridgeway clocks, which, until a few years ago, were frequently presented to business leaders during economic development announcements.