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Village celebrates jobs, optimism
By ED RUNYAN
LORDSTOWN
Sue Minor, owner of Country Gifts and Collectibles here, says the reduced employment levels at General Motors Lordstown Complex the last couple of years have been hard on village businesses, including two restaurants that closed.
So even though the news out of the auto plant has been positive for about a year and employment levels have risen, you can’t blame people for being only cautiously optimistic about the future, she said.
“It can’t not be positive to get people back to work. That’s huge,” Minor said of the launch of the new Chevrolet Cruze this month. “We’ve lost so many jobs. I think people are optimistic about it, but right now they’re cautious.”
Minor’s store is on Salt Springs Road, a mile south of the plant.
It’s the type of business that in the past relied heavily on vehicle traffic coming through the village and people having disposable income. But with those two things reduced during the last couple of years, Minor says she’s been fortunate to have discovered Internet sales.
Minor sells a lot of jams, jellies and candles to shoppers in Japan, Canada and Great Britain because people in those places appear to still have the money to afford such items, she said.
“We’ve been hit really hard here. We’ve had a lot of business loss,” she said, adding: “When you drive down the road, look at all the empty homes there are.”
Now that GM is employing three shifts of workers and the Severstal steel mill in Warren has many of its workers back on the job, the local economy is improving, Minor said, “But it’s going to take people a while to get caught up.”
Minor said she’s seen an improvement in her walk-in business since the spring.
Earl Ross Jr., whose father bought Ross’ Foods on state Route 45 just south of the GM plant 13 years ago and turned it over to him and his sister about six years ago, is investing in the success of the Cruze by adding a bar and patio on the side and back of his food and beverage business.
“I’m definitely putting money into the place, waiting for better times to come,” said Ross, who put a message on one side of the store saying “Welcome back GM. We are ready to Cruze into the future with you.”
Ross said he decided to invest in the expansion when GM announced Lordstown would be building the Cruze.
“I’ve been treading water for every bit of a year now,” he said. “This has been by far the roughest year” the business has had since he started running it.
Ross estimates that 70 percent of his business — beverages and hot foods — comes from General Motors employees.
He hopes to have the bar finished just after the Cruze launches later this month.
Michael Hodak, owner of Subway on state Route 45, two miles north of the GM plant, says his business saw an increase after new workers had been trained this summer and were able to leave the plant for lunch.
He’s expecting more workers to be added this month and another jump in business.
To attract GM workers, who rarely leave the plant for lunch, he’s decided to open as early as 6 a.m. this month to see if he can sell coffee, breakfast and lunch to workers on their way into work. Right now the business opens at 9 a.m.
Dom Raco, owner of Dino’s Restaurant in North Jackson, several miles south of the plant, said GM business has picked up slightly in recent months — food for lunches and retirement parties for example.
“It’s good news,” said Raco of the Cruze. “With so many people going back to work, everybody’s not looking down. They’re looking up to better things.”
Raco said the number of GM workers stopping at his business doesn’t seem like it has changed much in recent years. The restaurant relies on lots of regulars for most of its business, he said.
Arno Hill, Lordstown Council president and former mayor, said he’s had a chance to ride in every car the Lordstown plant has made for a generation, and the Cruze is the best of them all.
“I’ve sat in the [Cruze]. You know how big I am, and I fit great,” said Hill, who is a tall, large man.
“This is, by far, the best of the cars they’ve had out there for a long time. You just sit in it. You just get a very luxury and quality feel. It feels like they’ve stepped up everything to make this a nicer car,” he said.
“It is by far the roomiest and has the nicest interior. You feel like you’re not in an entry-level car. We’re hoping it does well — the village, the people of the village, the people at the plant.”
Judith Hall, Lordstown village clerk, said the village is still working off of estimates for 2010 revenue that are based on General Motors operating with two shifts, not the three shifts that have been running since July.
The village estimated 2010 income-tax receipts to come in at around $3.5 million for the year, which would be an increase from the $3.2 million it received in 2009.
The plant operated with one shift through most of 2009, closing completely for two months after GM filed for bankruptcy June 1 that year.
The plant added 1,200 jobs in July, when it started the third shift. It had ramped up to two shifts last October, adding 1,000 workers.
Hall said the village is trying to operate as conservatively as possible given GM’s fluctuations over the past year or two.
“We’re confident and hoping the Cruze is a go. Without GM, we’ll be back to the horse-and-buggy days,” she said.
Hill added that he and other members of the village finance committee are going to remain conservative with spending for the village throughout the rest of this year.
In January, village council considered giving village workers a 3 percent pay increase for 2010 and 2011 but eventually decided to keep wages the same.
Kelvin Harlemon of Niles, a GM worker on lunch break, said last month that the mood of GM workers has been great while workers have been training to build the Cruze, especially among workers who transferred into the plant after being laid off from a GM plant elsewhere in the country.
“It’s probably going to be one of the best vehicles we’ve ever built,” Harlemon said.