Surplus wire and cable buyers in High Point, NC
Showrooms, furniture plants and a bus factory share one small city. The cable follows the buildings: display lighting and cord in the showrooms, machine control and feeder in the plants.
- Guilford County
- I-74 and US 29
- Furniture plant surplus
How the material moves here
Twice a year the showroom district takes over the centre of High Point, and for a week the streets belong to buyers and forklifts rather than traffic. The rest of the year the same blocks are quiet, holding display lighting, track, cord and the electrical residue of a hundred refits. That rhythm is worth knowing before a pickup is scheduled, because in April and October a truck on Commerce Avenue is a problem for everyone.
Behind the showrooms the city is still a manufacturing town. Furniture plants, component suppliers and a bus assembly line run real machinery on real drives, and when a line is retooled the material that comes out is control cable, VFD cable, motor leads and tray runs. This is older industrial stock, so a fair amount of what we are shown predates the colour codes still in use. Age matters more here than in a newer plant.
Cable we review in High Point
High Point’s mix is plant and display. Expect THHN and THWN from panel and lighting work, MC from interior fit-out, tray and control cable from line changes, VFD cable from drives, welding cable from maintenance shops, and SOOW cord from showrooms and assembly stations. Medium voltage appears when a plant substation or a large compressor is reworked. Old rubber and cloth-braided cable is common enough that we ask about age early.
Where it comes from in High Point
Furniture manufacturing and components
The Greensboro and High Point corridor remains a furniture manufacturing centre, with plants making case goods, upholstery frames, office furniture and the foam, hardware and finish components that feed them. That work runs on conveyors, dust collection, spray booths and press lines, all of which are motor-heavy. Changeouts there produce VFD cable, control cable, tray cable and the odd length of feeder pulled out of a panel. Feeder turns up with compressor and boiler replacements.
High Point Market and the showroom district
The Market is the reason the showroom blocks exist, and the buildings are rebuilt constantly to suit a new tenant. A showroom refit is lighting-dense: track, dimmers, display circuits and a great deal of flexible cord. Because the buildings are old, the wiring inside them is often a mixture of decades, and what comes out during a refit ranges from current THHN to cable nobody has ordered since the 1980s.
Bus and specialty vehicle assembly
Thomas Built Buses builds school buses in High Point, which makes this a vehicle assembly town as well as a furniture town. Vehicle work is a different electrical discipline: harnesses, test stands, paint booth controls and heavy power to ovens and lifts. Surplus from that kind of plant tends to be ordered material, cut to length for a build schedule, and it often sits on reels that were never opened.
Freight is planned around the site
Access in High Point is a question of which part of town the material sits in. The showroom district has narrow service alleys, freight elevators and doors built for a hand truck, while the plants on the edges have proper docks and yard space. Both are close to I-74 and US 29, and Norfolk Southern plus Amtrak run through the middle of the city, so a load is never far from a main road.
The Market calendar is the constraint nobody plans for. During show weeks the district is closed to ordinary freight, parking is consumed by exhibitors and a delivery window can disappear entirely. Anything leaving a showroom building is best moved between markets, and anything leaving a plant is best moved when the line is down rather than mid-run. We ask which of those two situations applies before booking. Both calendars are known in advance.
Nearby coverage
The same buying desk covers the surrounding counties.
High Point wire buying questions
What cable comes out of a furniture plant when a line is retooled?
Mostly the motor and control side. VFD cable from drive cabinets, shielded control from sensors and interlocks, tray cable along the overhead run, and THHN or XHHW tails inside the panels. Dust collection and spray booth work adds heavier feeder. The continuous tray and drive cable is the part worth separating.
How can I tell whether old cable is still worth sending for review?
Age shows in the jacket. Cloth braid over rubber, cotton fillers, or a jacket that cracks when bent is legacy material and should be described as such. Cable with a printed date, a modern type designation and a flexible jacket is a different proposition. If the printing is gone, photograph the cut end.
Can we schedule a pickup during High Point Market?
Usually not in the showroom district. During market weeks the streets go to exhibitors, temporary structures and pedestrian traffic, and a flatbed in the middle of that is not workable. We schedule showroom pickups before or after a market and keep plant pickups running on their own calendar.
We are clearing a plant storehouse before a sale. What is the process?
Start with a walk-through list: cable type, size, approximate length and where it sits. Photographs of racks and reel tags save a second visit. A buyer reviews the whole storehouse, marks what should be separated, and issues written lot terms covering one lot or several. Nothing is removed before those terms are agreed.
Send a High Point lot
Tell us what is on the floor and how it is stored. Photographs of reel tags can follow by text.
Or email saleselectricalbuyers@gmail.com
- No fee and no obligation to sell.
- Written lot terms before anything moves.
- Pickup scheduled around your access rules.