It's harder to quantify the retail impact of a company closing a factory, but a shuttered plant certainly affects product supply and consumer spending, so it's worth noting the numerous shutdowns announced this week:
- Shaw Industries is closing a fibers facility in South Carolina that makes products for rugs, carpeting, laminate and other uses.
- Aluminum recycler Aleris is shutting a factory in Indiana that has been idle since March.
- In North Carolina, Vaughan-Bassett is closing a plant used for furniture production, citing a dramatic decline in sales this fall.
- Super Steel in Schenectady, which made train components, is closing in early 2009.
These are all fairly small closings (the biggest will affect 400 people; the main auto workers' union has 139,000 members), but they point to cautious companies and lower consumer spending from the recession.
Leave a comment