Philip Morris Plant Leaving Concord NC

What a huge blow to the economy in and around Concord NC.

News broke this afternoon announcing that the Philip Morris plant in Concord NC, which manufactures cigarettes, will be closing by third quarter 2008.

It's not that this is the only employer in the area-by far, it's not. But it's a blow to the tax base to lose them as an employer-we're talking 2500 jobs, and all high wage ones at that.

PM is planning to move some of the folks to the facilities in Richmond, so of course I'm glad to help sell those homes for those families who choose to relocate to Richmond VA. But when the moves come at a loss to the community, I'm just a little sad.

The plant has been a strong part of the economy for years-I mean, after all, you all grew up knowing of North Carolina as the stronghold of the tobacco industry! What happened? Busybodies, in a nutshell. (But that's a soapbox for a different time and place.)

We've already seen the loss of Cannon Mills (now becoming the North Carolina Research Campus), we see the pending merger of Northeast Medical Center and Carolinas Medical Center, and also the pending merger of CTC and Alltel...our mainstay employers are shifting and changing like the winds!

I'm not complaining, mind you, because the lion's share of the jobs have stayed here and we have new companies moving into the area every year. Many other areas of the country aren't nearly as fortunate (see Missy Caulk's story about Ann Arbor for a prime example). But as a native of the area, it's mind-boggling to an extent that my kids will not know ANY of the companies that were born and bred here in Cabarrus County!