Last Kmart in Utah expected to close its doors in St. George

The last Kmart in Utah, located in St. George, will close its doors before the end of the year. Earlier this month, Transform Holdco, the privately-owned company that acquired Sears Holdings Corporation’s assets this year, announced the closure of five Kmart locations and a number of Sears stores across the country. Now, Transform Holdco officials have confirmed that the last Kmart in Utah, located on Bluff Street in St. George, will be one of over 100 other Kmart and Sears locations to close. The liquidation sale is expected to begin in mid-September, and the store is scheduled to close by mid-December. St George News

Red Rock Canyon School to close after multiple abuse allegations

Red Rock Canyon School, a facility for troubled youth in St. George, will cease operations after it faced scrutiny regarding the conduct of multiple staff members. Sequel Youth and Family Services, Red Rock Canyon School's parent company announced the closure. According to the Department of Human Services, the facility houses 49 youth and employs approximately 120 full-time staff members. The Spectrum

Apogee Announces Architectural Glass Restructuring, Will Close St. George Viracon Facility

As part of company initiatives to diversify and strengthen our business for more stable performance in any economic cycle, Apogee is making significant investments in their Viracon architectural glass business for new capabilities, automation and improved productivity that are yielding increased capacity. Officials indicated that it is now apparent that they no longer require the capacity from our smallest domestic architectural glass plant in St. George, and will be closing that facility in March. Apogee’s Viracon architectural glass business employs about 200 people in St. George. Utah Business

Cedar City Sports Authority to close

Cedar City Sports Authority will be closing. The sporting goods store announced plans to close all 463 locations Monday. USA Today reported that going-out-of-business sales are anticipated to start this Friday and finish by the end of August. The Spectrum

Paul Mitchell “The School” closing

After several years of offering classes and guest services, Paul Mitchell The School St. George will be closing its doors on Aug. 31. The School director said the closure was because the area the school is located in is "not able to support as large of a school as is needed for Paul Mitchell to run their curriculum." The school has worked out a contract with Taylor Andrews, a cosmetology school in St. George, to directly transfer Paul Mitchell students to its program. The Spectrum

Blue Bunny to close St. George plant

The Blue Bunny ice cream plant in the Fort Pierce Industrial Park in St. George soon will be closing its doors. In a one-paragraph statement, Wells Enterprises, Inc., the parent company of Blue Bunny, said the decision will enable the company to "optimize its existing capacity in Le Mars, Iowa." The transition will be phased in over several months, with the plant expected to be completely closed by the end of the year. The move will impact approximately 100 workers. The Spectrum

YESCO to close its St. George production operations

Young Electric Sign Company told employees that it would close its St. George production operations. Company officials could not say how many employees will be affected, adding that many details are still uncertain. The manufacturing operations involve only the production of interior gaming signs and would be relocated to a different YESCO location. Some employees will be offered different positions. The transition process may not be completed until the end of the year. The Spectrum

Company-wide downsizing closes Staples on Bluff Street in St. George

After six years in business, the 963 S. Bluff Street branch of the worldwide office supply chain Staples will close its doors on Saturday. The store is closing as part of a company-wide downsizing process. The other local Staples store at 245 Red Cliffs Drive in St. George will remain open. Staples is working to arrange transfers to the Red Cliffs store for some of the employees. St. George News

Iron mines lay off 24 full-time employees

CML Metals announced the layoffs of 24 full-time employees from the Comstock Mountain Lion Mines, resulting from new and more efficient equipment that came online nearly three weeks ago and eliminating the need to keep the jobs open any longer. The layoffs followed two years of efforts by CML Metals to work with the prior equipment it had originally used in 2012. The Spectrum

RMC Foods announces shutdown in St. George

After a year of increasing financial woes for Rocky Mountain Foods, the board of directors is closing down the operation. Between its business operations in Utah, Nevada and Arizona, 75 employees will be out of work as a result of the closure. When Hostess announced its closure in November 2012, Rocky Mountain Foods lost 78 percent of its revenue. The Spectrum

Iron County Economic Update

Iron County is still waiting for a full-fledged economic expansion. Recently released nonfarm job numbers find the county showing only a slight gain in employment. In fact, Iron County’s rate of year-to-year job growth has fluctuated around the no-change mark for more than two years. The highest increase since the end of the recession—just over 1 percent—occurred in September 2011. Plus, five months have actually showed declines. As of March 2013, Iron County registered a mere 0.4 percent year-to-year improvement in employment.

While employment levels remain fairly stagnant, other economic indicators show notable improvement—hopefully a precursor to an improved jobs picture.

Here are a few details:

• Between March 2012 and March 2013, Iron County added only 60 jobs—a gain of 0.4 percent. To achieve full-economic recovery, Iron County should show a rate closer to 3 percent. All months in the first quarter demonstrated similar low-level gains.
  
• In March, employment declines in three major industries put a significant drag on the economy. After expanding nicely earlier in the recovery, manufacturing now shows a 100-job loss. In addition, professional/business services dropped by more than 70 positions.
  
• Many of these lost positions represent the loss of employment at temp agencies. Government (primarily on the local level—including public schools) dropped another 35 jobs.
  
• Nevertheless, employment gains outweighed employment losses.
  
• Private education/health care/social services added the most new jobs with other significant job contributions from leisure/hospitality services, construction, wholesale trade, and “other” services.
  
• Although the county’s job gains during the past several years have proved tepid, its unemployment rate manages to edge ever downward suggesting workers have found jobs outside the county, moved or left the labor market.
  
• Iron County jobless rate stood at 6.1 percent in June 2013—down more than a full percentage point compared to a year earlier. However, not surprisingly (given strong employment growth statewide), Iron County’s unemployment rate remains notably higher than the state average (4.7 percent).
  
• Initial claims for unemployment insurance so far in 2013 are showing a downward trend—another positive trend for the economy.
  
• The vast improvement in construction permitting during the first quarter of 2013 should eventually translate into continued vibrant increases in construction employment.
  
• Following in the path of 2012, home permitting for the first three months of 2013 is up a whopping 650 percent. Of course, permitting is still down substantially from the boom years of the mid-2000s.
  
• New nonresidential permitting values are also up substantially from the first quarter of 2012 (more than 1,000 percent). Approvals in the hospital/institutional and retail categories produced this vast improvement. Of course, keep in mind that it is early days yet in the permitting year.
  
• Gross taxable sales continued its seven-quarter streak of year-to-year expansion with a 3-percent gain in first quarter 2013.
  
• In addition, car sales continue to rally. Between first quarter 2012 and first quarter 2013, car and light truck sales increased by 14 percent marking the sixth straight quarter of gains. 

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St. George Albertsons prepares to close

Albertsons expects to close the doors of its South Bluff Street store in St. George within the next month. Officials say the store has not been profitable for some time. Albertsons will still maintain its stores at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Dixie Drive and at the corner of Red Cliffs Drive and 3050 East. The Spectrum

Viracon announces St. George shutdown

Viracon, a single-source architectural glass fabricator, is closing its St. George manufacturing plant in mid-April, impacting the jobs of approximately 222 employees.

The Owatonna, Minn.,-based company is closing its smallest branch to adjust to the current market demand of the glass market, said Kevin Anez, director of marketing and product management for Viracon. A press release said the plant closure is expected to last approximately two years, while the company works to upgrade and improve some of the plant features to accommodate new product offers.

The company is also discussing possible plans to relocate some of its employees to other Viracon locations in Georgia and Brazil on a case-by-case basis, Anez said.

“This was a very difficult but necessary decision that we had hoped to avoid,” said Viracon President Kelly Schuller in the press release. “Our St. George workforce has done a great job, but the prolonged construction downturn required us to act to improve our operating efficiencies and maintain our competitive position.”

Carrie Mayne, supervising economist for the Utah Department of Workforce Services, said the loss of the manufacturing jobs from the Viracon shutdown amounts to about a 10-percent drop in manufacturing in Washington County. The Spectrum

Washington County Golf Course Closes

Just months after being named the second-best golf course in the state, Kokopelli Golf Club in Apple Valley (Washington County ) is closed. The course had just been ranked second in the state in Golfweek's "Courses You Can Play" list in 2012. The course was closed on Wednesday, with a sign near the entrance indicating the course had closed permanently. Although Kokopelli was highly regarded among golfers, managers probably found it was a little too far away from downtown St. George. The Spectrum

Roberts Arts and Crafts to close

Roberts Arts and Crafts will be closing its stores come January. Representatives of the craft store, which first opened in Provo in 1963, announced on Wednesday that they will be closing all the Roberts stores -- located in American Fork, Orem, Provo, South Jordan and Washington -- to focus on online sales. A company representative wouldn't comment on how many employees will lose their jobs. Daily Herald

New Southwest area jobs data available

Little data geek that I am. . . I'm always anxiously awaiting the new release of nonfarm jobs data for the counties I analyze. . .just like a little kid anticipates Christmas morning. Why? I truly believe it is the best indicator of the economy at the local level. So, if you really want to know how the economy in the southwest region of the state is performing, you might want to take a look at the new second quarter data. While not every county in the region experienced job growth in the second quarter of 2011, in general, the labor market continues to improve. Here's a brief county-by-county rundown:

Beaver County--Beaver County's economy appears in great shape with a year-to-year gain of 5.7 percent and almost 120 new jobs in June 2011. However, remember that a large share of these additional jobs are related to wind farm construction and are therefore temporary. While manufacturing and leisure/hospitality services also added to the county's employment base, most industries showed some level of job loss. In particular, government and retail trade took notable job hits. Click here for Beaver County's second quarter data.

Garfield County-- After a surge of new employment in 2010, Garfield County now shows a slight employment contraction. Overall, payrolls declined by about 30 jobs and 1.2 percent between June 2010 and June 2011. Two industries take the blame for most of the job loss--construction and information. On the other hand, Garfield County's bread-and-butter industries--retail trade and leisure/hospitality services both showed significant job gains. Click here for Garfield County's second quarter data.

Iron County--After generating its first job growth in more than two years in the first quarter of 2011, Iron County back-tracked to job loss in the second quarter. Between June 2010 and June 2011, Iron County showed a net loss of 40 jobs. That represents a decline of only 0.3 percent. However, the county's current performance suggests that it hasn't found its way to a solid economic footing yet. The primary source of job losses continues to be the construction industry. Nevertheless, construction had some significant employment-loss partners--retail trade, financial activities and leisure/hospitality services. On the positive side, mining, manufacturing, wholesale trade, and professional/business services produced some noticeable employment gains. Click here for Iron County's second quarter data.

Kane County--Despite early employment expansion in 2010, Kane County has yet to settle into a sustained pattern of job growth. In late 2010 and early 2011, employment dropped dramatically. Fortunately, the county is once again showing job growth. With the addition of more than 40 net new jobs, the county registered year-to-year job gains of 1.2 percent in June 2011. However, all industries didn't share in this employment improvement. Financial activities and private education/health/social services generated notable job losses which were more than offset by employment additions in leisure/hospitality services, other services, and government. Click here for Kane County's second quarter data.

Washington County--If slow and steady wins the race, Washington County should be in fine shape economically by 2012. Now in its second quarter of job expansion, the county's labor market situation continues to slowly improve. Between June 2010 and June 2011, the county generated a net addition of roughly 640 new jobs for a growth rate of 1.4 percent. Most industries have moved over into the "black" side of the job-accounting column. Those contributing significant numbers of new jobs include manufacturing, transportation, private education/health/social services, leisure/hospitality services, and other services. Construction did slip back to show a few job losses in June 2011. However, the most notable industry declines occurred in professional/business services (which includes temp agencies).

In addition to the new jobs data, I've recently updated the county Economic Snapshots to include new unemployment, construction, sales, and claims data. You can find the links by clicking here.

Utah wilderness, youth therapy programs closing

A wave of closures and consolidations in wilderness therapy and youth treatment programs in Utah will take nearly 200 jobs from Wayne County alone. Three programs for troubled young people, owned by Aspen Education Group, constitute the biggest employer in the county.

CRC Health Group, Aspen’s California-based parent company, will close two programs in Utah: An equine and behavioral therapy boarding school in Wayne County, and a substance abuse treatment facility for teens in St. George. Another Wayne County drug rehab program will move to Idaho. The state’s longest-running wilderness therapy program, Aspen Achievement Academy, will move from Wayne County to Lehi and merge with another program, Outback Expeditions. A live-in treatment center for teens in Draper will merge with a similar facility in Syracuse. Salt Lake Tribune

Rebound comes too late for 7 Utah restaurants

Six eateries owned by national chains and the independent Acme Burger Co. in downtown Salt Lake City have closed. In Utah, restaurant sales taxes paid during fourth quarter of 2010 increased more than $350,000, compared with the same period a year earlier.

But not everyone is prospering as the eateries and their customers adapt to new economic realities. Five Ruby Tuesday outlets in Utah closed in January, leaving only the Park City franchise at 6585 N. Landmark Drive. The shuttered restaurants were in Draper, West Jordan, West Valley City, Logan and St. George. The closings cost at least 200 employees their jobs.

Also shut down were the Lone Star Steakhouse in Sugar House at 1206 E. 2100 South, and Acme Burger, 275 S. 200 West. Acme, a small independent eatery known for grass-fed beef and good reviews, was closed for nonpayment of taxes. It opened in 2007. Salt Lake Tribune

Note: What this article fails to mention is that there have also been numerous openings of restaurants during the past year. Even in the best of times, some restaurants fail and others open. Our most current data (September 2010) actually shows more Utah restaurants in business this year than the year before.

Fresh Market in Cedar City to close

Associated Food Stores is closing Fresh Market in Cedar City Dec. 31, leaving an estimated 70 employees without jobs. The Spectrum

No growth means jobs cut for St. George City employees

Downsizing to fit the down economy, St. George finished a restructuring of its departmental makeup this month by letting 12 people go. The city, which has nearly 900 full- and part-time employees, has seen dwindling revenues since the onset of the recession more than two years ago, with its general fund budget shrinking by 10 percent. The Spectrum