Boar's Head plant closure leaves another small town looking for answers

Deli meat manufacturer Boar's Head has announced it is indefinitely closing its Jarratt, Virginia, plant after a listeria outbreak that killed nine people in 18 states. However, the closure of this plant has now left the small town of under 1,000 people searching for their next move — and it may not be easy to find.

The plant itself had not been operational since July as a result of the outbreak, and it "pains us to impact the livelihoods of hundreds of hard-working employees," Boar's Head said in a statement. The company will "work to assist each of our employees in the transition process." But it seems the closure has invariably affected the small town — a story that has been seen across the country.

How will the plant closure affect Jarrett, Virginia?

The Boar's Head plant was the largest private employer in Jarrett, according to The Washington Post. It put about 500 people to work in a town of just 637. The plant's closure represents a "sizable and sudden hit for a community accustomed to a long, slow slide," said the Post, and "more expect to feel the pain as that jolt plays out across the local economy."

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The plant was a "good employer in the community, and there aren't a lot of other options for folks," Jonathan Williams, the head of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400, the union representing the plant workers, said to the Post. And many other businesses in Jarrett, including the "Blimpie and Pizza Hut that drew Boar's Head workers at lunchtime, the new Mexican restaurant and the old-time hardware store in Jarratt's otherwise moribund downtown, the local auto shop, the Ford dealership" and others all "expect to feel the pinch." Everybody in Jarratt has "got to get a job, otherwise it'll be a ghost town with everybody riding a horse and buggy," Mike Wilkens, an auto mechanic in Jarratt, said to the Post.

This has "created a sense of unease in Jarratt and larger neighboring towns, where residents said good-paying jobs are hard to come by," said The New York Times. Employees were "getting benefits, packages, severance pay, but I don't think it's worth it anywhere near enough losing a job you've worked your whole life," Boar's Head IT specialist Artie Moorman said to WRIC-TV Petersburg. Boar's Head did give the employees the option to relocate to another Virginia plant about 40 minutes away or transfer out of state. It is unclear how many employees, if any, took this offer.

What other small towns have been affected by company closures?

A small town being decimated by corporate closures is not a new phenomenon. Reports were documenting the issue as far back as the 1990s. This can often be seen in the case of retail stores, as while "store closings are spread among urban and tertiary markets, many of these retailers have closed locations in smaller towns throughout the U.S.," said Forbes in 2017.

Specific examples of small town closures abound. In Farmersville, Ohio, businesses "are doing their best to stay afloat after seeing others close, including the town's major bank branch," said WDTN-TV Dayton. Some in the town "question what's being done to attract new businesses. In the meantime, a lack of resources means residents are traveling elsewhere for services." When towns lose a small business such as a bank, it "does affect people," Farmersville resident Susan Hartman said.

The town of Stratton, Nebraska, used to have "two grocery stores, two barber shops and a pharmacist," but most of those are gone today, said NPR. Beyond just business closures, there are also concerns "about the future of many rural small towns as the older generation retires without young people to replace them."