PONTOTOC - A year after debuting at the Tupelo Furniture Market with his new company, industry veteran Gerald Washington is on the move again.

This time, the owner of Washington Furniture Sales is growing into a bigger location with the purchase of the former Action Industries-Lane Furniture building in the Pontotoc Industrial Park.

Washington said he wanted to move into the building "as soon as possible."

Washington formed his newest upholstered furniture company last year. He had fulfilled a five-year non-compete agreement after selling American Furniture.

He started Washington Furniture Sales in a building he owned near his home in Randolph in late 2009, then debuted his first offerings at the spring Tupelo Furniture Market.

Now with 100 employees, Washington said he would add more workers "if the economy will."

Washington closed the deal on the former Action-Lane building on Friday for an undisclosed amount.

The 72-year-old began making upholstered furniture frames in the late 1970s and turned a $400 investment into a multimillion-dollar furniture venture, Washington Furniture. The company employed nearly 1,000 people at six plants in Pontotoc County when it was sold to investors in the 1980s.

Washington ran the company until 1997 before leaving to start American Furniture a year later.

Washington Furniture later changed its name to Kensington and eventually went out of business.

In 2004, Washington sold American, which is owned by Compass Diversified Holdings.

Contact Dennis Seid at (662) 678-1578 or dennis.seid@journalinc.com.