Charlotte.

• Position: Regional Report - Brief Article

CHARLOTTE -- Bank of America will spend $68.1 million to open 23 branches in South Florida within two years. Wachovia is expanding into the wholesale and retail markets in Texas. It will open 30 to 50 branches per year from 2005 to 2010.

HIDDENITE -- Bassett, Va.-based furniture maker Bassett Furniture closed its upholstery plant here, idling 90. Thirty-five other workers were transferred to Bassett's Newton plant.

HICKORY -- Elastic-yarn maker Regal Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Hickory-based Worldtex, closed a plant here, laying off about 115, and moved production to Colombia. Regal kept only 25 of the 140 employees, including the research, sales and technical staff as well as workers from a warehouse and distribution center.

LINCOLNTON -- Holland, Mich.-based Haworth, an office-furniture maker, is closing its chair plant here, letting go 161 employees. It is moving production to plants in Michigan and Mississippi.

CHARLOTTE -- Wellman, a packaging manufacturer and plastics recycler based in Shrewsbury, N.J., is moving its operations here to Lancaster County, S.C. The 130 employees...