Brewery's Exit A Blow To Rockingham County

North Carolina's largest brewery announced this week that it will close its doors in Rockingham County. Officials at MillerCoors say they're streamlining operations and focusing on its seven remaining breweries in other parts of the country.

The Triad Business Journal's Owen Covington has been following the story. For this week's Business Report, he tells WFDD's Emily McCord that the plant is one of the biggest employers there and its closure has a broad impact.

"It's particularly devastating because these were well-paying jobs.  Most of these jobs were union jobs. If you were hourly, you made $25 or more an hour. Salaried employees made even more." 

The brewery's closure means the loss of 520 jobs at its Eden plant, which has been in business since 1978. 

"This accounted for almost half of the people that are directly involved in brewing in the state," says Covington. "It's also a large-scale national corporation that had a sizable presence in the state. You'll be losing some of that tax base, as well as some of that cache that North Carolina could boast that they had one of these large-scale breweries, particularly as they market themselves as a growing beer state."

Covington reports that economic development officials are looking into whether the county could land another brewer at the expansive plant. But he says it's unclear whether another large brewer is looking to expand production. He adds that, while craft brewing is growing in the state, it's still small compared to companies like MillerCoors. 

The Business Report on 88.5 WFDD is a partnership with the Triad Business Journal.