Brooks Brothers Plant In Garland To Close July 20
BY BLADENONLINE.COM
ON 05/16/2020
Brooks
Brothers announced Friday that it will permanently closing the Garland Shirt
Factory on July 20 because of “unforeseen business circumstances resulting from
the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The company
said in a warning notice to the N.C. Department of Commerce dated Wednesday
that the closure would affect 146 employees.
“We
apologize that we were unable to provide you more advance notice of this
action,” the letter addressed to NC Works Rapid Response Team Manager Russell
K. Doles reads. “The speed and vast reach of the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as
the different declarations of a state of emergency and directives at the
federal, state and local level … was unforeseeable and caused, and will
continue to cause, among other things, a drastic impact on the Company’s
business.”
Garland was
one of three Brooks Brothers factories in the United States. The others are in
Havermill, Massachusetts and Long Island City, New York. The Garland plant made
button-down Oxford shirts.
Garland
Mayor Winifred Hill Murphy told The News & Observer of Raleigh that the
closing is a “devastating loss” for the Sampson County town that borders Bladen
County off U.S. 701.
“We have
been known for Brooks Brothers,” Murphy told the newspaper. “Before the retail
store closed people would travel here from hours away. It has given employment
to a great number of people.”
Brooks
Brothers began selling clothing in 1818. The company has been for sale since
last year.
It was one of NC's best-kept shopping secrets. Now,
sadly, it is no more.
BY ZACHERY
EANES
APRIL 24,
2018 08:19 PM , UPDATED APRIL 25, 2018 07:55 AM
The Brooks Brothers factory outlet store in
Garland brought folks from out of state and all around the state to the small
town.
The Brooks
Brothers factory clearance store in Garland — where you could buy an
American-made silk tie for as little as $10 — is closing its doors, according
to Winifred Hill Murphy, the mayor of Garland, who posted the news on the
town's Facebook page.
Brooks
Brothers confirmed the news in an email Tuesday evening, saying in a statement:
"We are closing our small clearance store as we believe our customers are
better served by our regular Brooks Brothers Factory Stores which are able to
offer a broader assortment of products at exceptional value. Our shirt factory
is not impacted by this decision."
The store
is an offshoot of Garland’s biggest employer, the Brooks Brothers Shirt
Factory. Garland, about 80 miles southeast of Raleigh, is home to one of only
three Brooks Brothers factories in the U.S. The others are in Haverhill, Mass.,
and Long Island City, New York.
In a town
of a little more than 600 people, around 250 of them work in the Garland
factory, Murphy said. Workers there earn roughly $10 to $14 an hour and produce
as many as 5,500 shirts a week, according to a recent article by the magazine
Business NC. It's the only U.S. factory making the classic button-down Oxford
shirts.
Brooks
Brothers has owned the plant since 1982. Oxford shirts made there can retail
for $140.
The deals
at the store were legendary — a News & Observer story in 2006 noted that a
shirt could go for $15, a wool jacket for $39, three khaki pants for $10 — but
Brooks Brothers never advertised the outlet's existence.
“It is sad.
It really is,” said Matthew Register, owner of Southern Smoke BBQ in Garland.
“They have been such an amazing asset to our town, bringing people in from all
of the state or other states, who would make detours or Saturday road trips to
Garland.”
Register —
who only owns Brooks Brothers ties — said visitors to the store were a huge
economic boost to the town. Visitors would often make their way to other
businesses in Garland, including Register's barbeque restaurant, which he says
is only a hedgerow away from the store.
“It is
going to have a financial impact on our local businesses,” he said. But “it is
one of those things where … we can’t have hard feelings. We don't want them to
close — but I am thankful for the years they spent here and thankful for the
jobs they have kept around all these years.”
Murphy, the
mayor, said in an interview Tuesday that she is worried the closing of the
store might portend the demise of the factory as well.
The factory
“has had some early retirements recently in the past month,” she said, adding
that she hasn’t spoken to anyone at Brooks Brothers. “We are concerned.”
Brooks
Brothers CEO Claudio Del Vecchio, who bought the company in 2001, told the New
York Times earlier this month that the Garland factory was the only domestic
plant that operates at a loss.
“Part of the
Brooks Brothers institution are its factories and what it means from a social
standpoint to put things together,” Del Vecchio told the Times. “Not every
consumer can afford to buy ‘Made in America.’ But we have a brand that can
justify that cost, and there are enough customers who understand this.”
But despite
the fact the factory is operating at a loss, Del Vecchio told the Times he
doesn't want to close it, saying he knows doing so would erase the livelihoods
of half the town.
“Many of
the decisions we make are with that in mind as well,” he said. “We keep saying
every year this is the year we aren’t going to lose money, so that’s the reason
to keep trying to improve. But until the day I can’t afford it, we won’t close
it.”
Zachery
Eanes: 919-419-6684
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