More than 500 people in Southside Virginia and northern North Carolina will be losing their jobs next September when MillerCoors Brewing shuts down beer production in Eden, North Carolina. In an announcement the company blamed loss of sales to craft brewers among other factors.
Average compensation for jobs at the MillerCoors Brewery is around $100,000 a year. That's far above almost anything else along the Virginia/North Carolina state line. Eden mayor Wayne Tuggle says job losses won't stop there, given that other industries in the region exist to support the brewery.
"The dominoes will fall with some of these other industries, trucking companies, people in Virginia too. A lot of people in Virginia worked at Miller."
The closing will cost Eden about $1.4 million annually in taxes and utility charges. That's more than six-percent of the city's total budget. But Tuggle it's nothing this region hasn't seen before, having lost most of its textile plants.
"A few years ago Hanes Brands decided to leave. They were using a billion gallons of water a year. That cost us $3.2 million dollars out of a budget of $20-million then."
MillerCoors expects to close the plant in September of next year. Production will be shifted to five other breweries including one in Shenandoah, Virginia.