TREMONTON -- A La-Z-Boy assembly plant in northern Utah will close June 26.

Company officials say they moved up the plant's closing date by a few weeks because of declining sales.

Tremonton city officials didn't expect the furniture factory to be closed until July. More than 400 employees were laid off June 2, and another 200 will work until the end of June.

The company plans to spend $20 million to improve production elsewhere. Sewing and cutting operations from the Tremonton plant will transferred to Mexico. Five other plants in the United States will take on other duties.

Kathy Liebman, a company spokeswoman, said that once the Utah plant closes, a few workers will stay on to take equipment apart. The Tremonton plant opened in 1979.

A job fair was held last month in Brigham City for workers to learn more about retraining options.

La-Z-Boy Corp. is providing other help through an "outplacement" firm hired by the company, according to Liebman.

"The company has been nothing but good to us," said Tremonton city manager Rich Woodworth.

City officials are hoping the plant won't be empty for long. In-state and out-of-state companies have indicated interest in the building, said Woodworth, who didn't provide additional details.

"The employees are obviously not happy about losing their jobs, but I think some will say they are interested in trying something new," said Richard Hawkes, manager of the Tremonton plant.

Procter & Gamble is building a manufacturing plant in the area that's scheduled to open in the middle of 2010, said Mayor Max Weese.

"When we first got word that La-Z-Boy would be shutting down, we thought we could retrain employees and some of them could work [for Procter & Gamble], but it'll be a while [until] completion," Weese said.

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On the Net:

http://www.la-z-boy.com/

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Information from: Standard-Examiner, http://www.standard.net