Hooker Furniture has reported a 2.3% increase in net sales for the third quarter of 2005 ended August 31.Sales reached $82.4 million compared with $84.3 million reported for the comparable period in 2004. However, sales for the first nine months decreased to $251.6 million from $254.0 million in 2004, representing a drop of 0.9%.

The company’s leather-upholstered furniture performed well. Net sales of the Bradington-Young upholstered leather furniture increased $882,000, or 6.3%, to $14.8 million from $13.9 million.