Store and induastrial closings near me, sad

In a large town near me there is a textile type place going down. It small potatoes for the most part 15-30 people. Cited foreign competition and cost to operate. An industrial service place (they do sharpening, tool repair, and much more etc.) Is on the edge and scaling back. RESONE: plenty of work but owners are getting up there in age and lack of labor work force that wants to do that type of work!!! Last large restaurant been there since WW2 (it had some side business attached to it too) Town did all it could do to help it, but it is being sold; but unclear as to its future far as restaurant. The laundry mat portion may stay going for awhile. Times are changing I guess; these were not new pop up things nor one man out of a garage.

Small town USA is rapidly becoming a piece of history in my area. All the service stations, mom and pop grocery stores and small specialty shops are gone. We have a really good hardware store, a good sit down restaurant, a funeral home, a guy selling wood furnaces and hot tubs, a flower shop and the bank. You can' buy a gallon of gas, a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread in our town. We used to have 3 tractor dealerships within 10 miles. Now we have to drive 40+ miles to get to a Deere dealer and 75 for anything else.Really SAD!!!

Worst part of it is that it's partially because they can't find help. What a surprise.

Is it that they want the employees to work for near Nothing..?

If the PAY is good enough, they will come....!!

No just lack of help and its not just them many skilled trades are suffering. They do better with older people than young ones as they have other interests. Also when they do get some one they do it for awhile than leave (electric tool repair for one, small engine for another)

RR not real sure on the restaurant one as to the why. That town has to many restaurants anyway if you count all of them from take out to up scale. They seemed to get help although many places were getting some people on a work visa for part of the year (the busy time) Used them behind the scenes like doing dishes, cleaning swim pool, laundry you get the picture, take care.

Wonder why small businesses are closing?
Why are workers hard to find?
Well, let's start with pay. Small businesses cannot afford to pay over $20/hour to their workers. They simply do not make that much.
Next, benefits. Most small businesses simply cannot afford today's high premiums for health care coverage. Especially since the ACA put the insurance companies into a panic.
Then there is the factory down the road that DOES pay high wages and has benefits.
Still wonder why small businesses are closing up?
There are other factors as well, but those are the big ones.

Personally, I have worked for small businesses most of my working life. There are advantages as well as disadvantages.

Come from where? My wife's a nurse. She hasn't worked in eight years or so. No problem,I can take care of her. When she was looking for work the last time though,she couldn't have driven 100 miles each way to and from work every day even if they'd offered her $75 an hour.

Most rural towns are suffering the same fate. Competition has made it to where most mature businesses are operating on very slim margins. So you have to handle large amounts of business to earn enough to make a fair living. The average grocery store runs on a 1-2% profit margin. If they are just a little too high the average consumer will price shop only and go somewhere else. These same people will be the first to complain that they have to drive 10-20 miles to buy food after the local closes.

As for finding workers it is becoming hard to do unless you are paying a fairly good wage. It is simple economics. The poorer people now have a government "safety net" that equals the wages many jobs pay. So why would they give up this in return for a low wage part time job with zero benefits??? It is not that many are lazy to start out with the but the programs are stacked so they can not afford to start out with a low wage job even if that is all they are qualified for. A $7-8 dollar per hour job can easily cost them $15 per hour in benefits.

My youngest sister lived in subsidized housing after her dead beat husband left her with two kids. She worked her way through nurse's school. She now is a full RN. She showed me how she had to move when she got her first check/job. She was living in a little crappy two bedroom apartment. Her subsidized rent was $250 plus utilities each month. When she got her job they took her weekly earning and refigured her "NEW" rent. That was $1200 plus utilities. This is in Dubuque not New York. This went into effect the first month she was working. So no ramp up so people can build a nest egg to pay more rent just boom you have to pay now. She borrowed some money as was able to put a deposit on another regular apartment with a $500 a month rent.

Your textile place is an example of where we reduced the tariffs on textile goods and drove almost all textile factories over seas. How do you compete with companies that can hire labor for pennies and hour???? They have many lined up for that pennies and hour job too. They do not have to worry about lazy workers as they can easily get another one that will work.

It all is a balancing act. Our social safety nets have had an effect of lowering people motivation to work to improve themselves. Too many will "settle" for barely getting by with a guaranteed subsidized living. I do not want people starving in the streets but I also realize many will never better themselves once they lock into the subsidy game.

The industrial place is an example of tight margins. The owners are making a good living but are not getting rich. So they would need to sell their business for real market value. That value would make it so any new owner would be hard pressed to make a good living after paying for the business.

Most businesses are like that these days. A gas station can easily cost $500,000. Look at what farm ground is costing. So there are not any business I can think of where you can start out with little money and make a living.

Local hardware store was passed down to the son that is sixty now and has worked there his entire adult life. He had to get another supplier as the old one would not allow him to continue on his Father's contract. They wanted him to buy a minimum of $100,000 each year or they would not do business with him. He said the total gross of the store was under $100,000 let alone selling that much hardware alone.

So the deck is getting stacked against any single business any more. You have to be able to buy in volume and have enough total business to pay a fairly good wage to get workers. Small anything is getting hard to do and make a living doing it. Farming or a gas station it all is becoming the same.

RR Don't understand the nurse mess around me they pay them a sign on bonus and use the traveling ones to fill in. What I am saying is there is a shortage, from these attendant type at DR> office right up to RN at hospital.

jocco: many businesses are not longer needed. It is sad but the truth. Most people today have been raised in a consumer society. Meaning everything is made to be used and throw away then the consumer buys a new one. small engine repair is getting that way. Electrical appliances are that way. I can remember my Mother having here mixer repaired not replaced. Today you just go buy another one.

My youngest son worked at a small engine repair place right out of trade school. They could not make it. IF the repair was much over $50-100 the people would just go buy new at the box stores. The majority of the time leaving the old mower/motor at the repair shop without telling them a thing.

I helped out a kid and found for her a real nice bungalow in a small town just outside of iowa her payment to buy taxes included was around 600. It was a house a man and wife just out of the army going to college and when the were done with college they put it back on the market he had done a lot of updating it was a lucky find.

It is becoming harder for non automated facilities to make a profit anymore. The automated facilities are being built near large metropolitan areas so they can get a trained work force. It is killing rural America, but I do not see it ever coming back. nnalert may talk about bringing jobs back, but they will not come back to rural areas because the factories cannot make a profit there. Most of my customers are looking to reduce their workforce to about 10% of what it was before automation.

I've worked for several clothing retailers over the years and i cant remember any of the boxes saying made in America. Current one Thailand,vietnam ,china,Jordan and turkey.

Sitdown restaurants where the plates run from 9.99 up to over 25.00 dollars are disappearing and the ones left are seeing reduced business for what should be peak hours. The people who made the kind of money to afford that are no longer around or can no longer go. Younger people do not have the money to drop 50 plus dollars for a family of four like they did a generation ago.

I agree with what you wrote. There are multiple causes, and most of us don't calmly sit down and try to understand why it's going the way it is.
When you talk to the "kids" that are my kids ages (25 to 40), most don't have an easy go of it. Even with some further education and training, its hard to find something with job security, let alone a good benefits package if you are raising a family. It's sure a lot different than when I was growing up!

Exactly. I have had contractors on the books here who have not been able to find help for years unless they hire "south of the border" crews. SB for short. The problem with SB crews is that they stay for six months, learn the job, jot down the names of your regulars and then start their own businesses and undercut your prices. Cannot happen so quickly with plumbers and electricians. Takes years but they still are doing it. Landscapers and carpenters were the first to take the hit. So now my guys who do that type of work try to find good reliable workers who are US citizens and offer really excellent wages if they will show up and stick around. No amount of money seems to be enough. IF they show up, they stick around half a week and then disappear. This has been going on for a long while.

(quoted from post at 11:57:34 02/11/17) I've worked for several clothing retailers over the years and i cant remember any of the boxes saying made in America. Current one Thailand,vietnam ,china,Jordan and turkey.

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ust thinking a day or two ago, "if you have something marked made in America/USA, you are old!"

I am a trim carpenter, working on a 7 man crew based out of a Pharmacy in Omaha Nebraska. We are marketed as the 'MODSQUAD'! We specialize in home modifications so the elderly and handicapped can stay in their own homes. We are buried with work! We have plenty of financial backing, so we can do work for the government agencies offering aid. Several of us have had our own businesses, and have said we could still be in business if we knew of that opportunity! BUT, they don't pay for 6 to 9 MONTHS-as a small remodeler, I could have never handled that payment schedule! Seems small is just a pipe dream in most any situation!

Yep,I've said before that if Ore Ida reopened this potato processing plant that closed in 1987 and paid union wages and benefits,that they couldn't staff it with Americans. At one time,they employed well over 500 people full time processing potatoes out of storage.

It's gonna be interesting to see what happens. That plant was in Greenville. There was a solar panel plant there that never got off the ground. A Chinese company called Dicastal has bought it and are going to build cast wheels there for the auto industry. They say they're gonna hire 400 people. We'll see where they come from. My cousins daughter is an accountant and has been working there for a while now during their remodel and set up. She hasn't said how the hiring is going.

yes do not forget WHEN YOU PAY PEANUTS you get monkeys ...

Several years ago, a big company built a new plant here, promising several thousand jobs and got huge tax concessions from local governments. Empty buildings for years, and when finally went into operation, mostly automation/robots and very few humans employed.

Sounds like the town where I grew up, 3 tractor dealerships, 2 car dealers, 3 grocery stores, 3 taverns, clothing store, 2 hardware stores, a bank 2 plumber/ htg. places, 2 appliance stores, Doctors office, vets office and more, town of 700. Biggest problem was finding some where to park. Now there's still 1 car dealer and 3 taverns, a bank and a plumber, no grocery stores.

We're two miles from the community college. Last I knew,the nursing school there was turning out two classes a year of new grads. For a while,the state would pay for the entire education for anybody who was unemployed and wanted to become a nurse. This was right after the refrigerator plant closed and everybody around here who could pass the college entrance exam went. At the same time,because of the loss of 2700 union jobs and all of those benefits,along with the ripple effect,health care around here took a huge hit. So,we had all of those new grads hitting the labor market when demand was drying up,so facilities would do whatever it took to get rid of older nurses so they could hire new ones a lot cheaper. All of those new grads had the fantasy that they were going to get a good job here the day after graduation and had no plans to pull up stakes and move away. It got to where there were more nurses around here than there were people selling Amway.

Speaking of traveling, we can easily travel a lot farther today. Good roads and vehicles has a lot to do with the demise of small town businesses. Years ago everyone stayed home and did business in their home town. Cars weren't as dependable as they are today, roads were dirt or gravel, tires weren't as good and gasoline was higher priced in comparison to the average worker's income. People walked uptown to get groceries, farmers drove the gravel roads to the nearest small town to shop because driving farther was too much hassle. When I was growing up our International KB1 pickup cruised at 40 MPH, was cold with frosted up windows in the winter and hotter than haities in the summer. It rarely was driven farther than the seven miles to the nearest town but that town had all we needed for supplies and we didn't need much back then compared to what we think we need today. The home town had good business possibilities because every farmer around it didn't want to travel farther away for goods.

There is no need to explain to you older folks how good our vehicles and roads are today compared to when we were young. When I was a kid we drove to our county seat town 17 miles away maybe five times a year. Today I'm in that same town at least 3 times a week. If I can't find what I need there I simply get on the highway, set the cruise and motor on up the road 30 more miles to a bigger town. Can't find it there? I can then probably find it in Sioux City, a mere 90 miles away traveling on good smooth roads.

Intel announced this week that they are going to spend $$$ billions to expand their plant here, that will add 300 jobs to the local economy. What was not said that most of those jobs will go to people from other countries because they can't find people here with enough education to do the work that they have for them. As I've said before, even the top universities have lowered their standards so much that the graduates can't get the top jobs.

" What was not said that most of those jobs will go to people from other countries because they can't find people here with enough education to do the work that they have for them."....at a low enough wage! Flood the country with enough bodies with engineering degrees and it definitely keeps wages down.

Good employees are still easy to attract if the pay is attractive. Part time jobs with low pay and no benefits are only attractive to the people who can't pass the drug test required to get a better job.

You would be able to hire some help if the dam schools didn"t tell all the young people that they need to go to collage there a lot of kids out there that should not be in collage trades need more trained people

That is why I shut my place down. People bringing in equipment that they never took care off. Then when you tell them the cost of their mistake. They leave it and go buy another. The cost alone on some stuff is more than the thing is worth. Even without labor. Now I only work on equipment from people I know. That take care of their stuff.

How many farms have been taken over by the big guys. dealer can"t make it togather that close any more

The people that I know that work there are getting well paid. I know a man and wife that are both code writers; their biggest problem is what to do with all their money.

gab, if you'll think back, many of those businesses catered to rural families that lived on 160-320 acre farms. By the time most of these folks had 2 or 3 kids w/o expanding their acreage, there wasn't enough land on the original place to keep the kids at home and stagnant crop prices didn't exactly tempt them either. Sure, there were a few that managed well, increased the size of their places when they were fortunate enough to be able to acquire decent financing; when they lucked out and another family farm was available for them to purchase. These few children of original farmers still farm there. They farm the places where 5 or 6 or even more entire families used to be. In small farming communities the stores and most of the businesses left because most of the people that could afford to buy their stuff were squeezed out right ahead of them. (imho) gm

Deere seller in the industrial place's case they have the work its just getting help to do it. makes turn around time much longer.

Guess one extreme follows another two totally different results from different areas.

It's obvious you skipped out on the spelling classes when you went to "collage".

Government intrusion in the free market to blame I guess.

Well said on the idea that you can't buy a business and make a go of it, if you have to pay full market value. Mrs Jocco and I have looked at several things and with operating cost, plus payment, equaled break even. Now if you inherited it you would do ok. Much the same with a farm I guess.

Its hard to have a business now with all the govt regs we have more people stoping progress than trying to make it go

In the states of South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska; Which state is the most difficult to open/start a new business? If you guessed, Minnesota, you are right. What is one of the most daunting/challenging small businesses to start in Minnesota? The answer is; gas station with a convenience store and deli/food service.

Thinking on this we had several small business in this town and neighboring towns that parts were shipped in some minor assembly than shipped out again alot was for the auto industry or small electric motors for appliances. As the gas prices started to rise i seen most of these closed as the cost of trucking increased it seemed for a time they brought work to where they workers were. Also that portion of the population that got forced off farms in the 70's when get bigger or get out was going on that farm worker with that work ethic is gone to. It seems that factories or whats left are moving back to the bigger cities to cut cost on freight almost like farmers getting bigger or getting out.

That's because Minnesota is the most "progressive" of the states you mentioned- its like Washington state, where you can hardly do anything any more for all the stifling regulations. We voted down a "carbon tax" at last election, now they're trying to sneak it in the back door.

I understand Minnesota congressman Al Franken wants to run for Pres. next time, with Jill Stein as his running mate. The Frankenstein ticket. LOL

omahagreg Is that Kohl's??? It is a good service for the people needing these type of service to stay in there own home longer.

I have seen some of the work you have posted here your a skilled fellow. You say your swamped with the type of work your doing now. IF you where back in general construction doing finish work how would the wages be??? The reason I am asking I that I know guys that where finish carpenters in Dubuque and Cedar Rapids and their wages have stayed level at the best and drop on average. Too many foreign workers willing to work for low wages. SO the fellow I know went on to other related work, Mainly remodels and insurance damage type of stuff.

Yes, its Kohlls Pharmacy. I don't know what wages are doing around here. I know I am making real good now, it seems they want to keep me!

Been a bunch of industry in our town that has either moved or shut down completely, including the foundry I used to work at. Last big one to close, first one to get tore down. It was in its hey day one of the premiere foundries in the country, now just an eyesore on the city. Bright side of that, another foundry was built in this same city a year after mine closed, which is where I'm at now. Right now we're in the middle of a 5.5 million dollar expansion which will make us one of the premier manganese foundries in North America. Plant manager of course says the best. I'm kinda proud of that. Our parent company is an Austrian company, but they do provide a lot of jobs here in America. They just finished building a 2 billion dollar facility in Texas, which I haven't researched exactly what they do there, but it's still money invested here, when it could have been anywhere else in the world. I'm thankful for that. DP