AUSTINTOWN Snyder's lays off 15 employees at its distribution center

Snyder's has a tax abatement that's tied to employment levels.
THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Snyder's Drug Stores is laying off employees at its Victoria Road warehouse even as it prepares to open a new store on Kirk Road.
Fifteen employees at the Western Wholesale Distribution Center are set to be laid off today, said Bob Bernat, secretary-treasurer of the Teamsters Local 377, which represents workers at the warehouse. He added that Snyder's also laid off employees earlier this year and reduced the employee work week from 40 hours to 32 hours.
The company has told the union that the layoffs were a result of the slow economy, and that it will recall the laid off workers when the economy rebounds, Bernat said.
Officials at Snyder's said in early August that about 140 people work at the warehouse, which serves all of the company's 160 corporate stores and more than 100 independent retailers it supplies around the country.
Executives at its offices in Minnesota could not be reached to comment Thursday.
The company operates traditional and discount drugstores under several names, including Snyders Drug and Drug Emporium.
New store
Last month, Snyder's announced it would open a 28,000-square-foot Drug Emporium in a part of the former Ames Department store on Kirk Road. The store is expected to employ between 40 and 50 full- and part-time workers and will have a drive-through pharmacy. It also will sell health and beauty aids, cosmetics, hair care products, over-the-counter medications and a line of 99-cent products. The store is set to open before the end of this year.
Snyder's has said that having the new store so close to the distribution center will greatly reduce shipping expenses, making the new store cost-effective.
Abatement
Snyder's signed a 10-year lease for the warehouse last November with Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle. In exchange for leasing the building, Snyder's received $175,000 in state grants, $1.5 million in incentives from Giant Eagle, and a 10-year, 60-percent tax abatement approved by the Mahoning County commissioners.
Austintown Township Trustee David Ditzler said to receive the abatement, Snyder's had to agree to create a certain number of jobs each year. Ditzler and township clerk Michael Kurish are on a board that reviews all abatements in Mahoning County each year.
Ditzler said he didn't know about the latest layoffs or how they might affect the abatement.
"Hopefully it's a short-term situation," he said.
hill@vindy.com