Days after its local high school team earned a second consecutive state baseball championship, the City of Russellville hit a home run Monday with the announcement of a $10 million distribution center that will occupy the former Heilig-Meyers building in the Russellville Industrial Park.
The news means up to 80 jobs will be created in the city.
Georgia-based Farmers Home Furniture made the announcement at a press conference Monday afternoon at Russellville City Hall. Farmers acquired the 325,000-square foot facility recently after deciding that Franklin County was the best fit for its expansion. Founded in 1949 by Sherwin Glass, Farmers Home Furniture is now one of the top 100 furniture companies in the United States. The employee-owned company has 198 stores and more than 2,000 locations. There are 35 Farmers Home locations in Alabama, including Moulton, Muscle Shoals and Haleyville.
Farmers Home CEO Phillip Faircloth said his company was purchased and organized under the Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP. ESOP companies provide a percentage of ownership to all employees through stock certificates. Faircloth did not specify wage amounts for his company's Russellville facility, but he said each employee's salary package will also include stock certificates that add significantly to the overall compensation.
If the company is successful, they can almost make their salary back in retirement, Faircloth said. Every employee, from the delivery driver all the way up to the chairman, gets a little piece of the company.
Alabama Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield attended Monday's ceremony and said the incentives provided to Farmers Home came through the Alabama Jobs Act are are tied to the company hitting a new job total of at least 50 at the Russellville facility.
It's a pay as you go approach, Canfield said. The company will receive three percent of its total payroll of all new jobs here. They must begin operations and have hired 50 new jobs before this incentive kicks in. This is a 10-year incentive, Canfield said.
Additionally, Farmers Home will receive a 1.5 percent investment credit on its total capital investment each year for its first 10 years of operation in Russellville, Canfield said. This credit can be applied against income tax or utilities tax.
Farmers Home officials found Franklin County to be the ideal spot for expansion due to its geographic location near new Alabama and Tennessee retail locations as well as the availability of skilled workers and the support offered by the City of Russellville, the Alabama Department of Commerce and the Franklin County Development Authority.
This new distribution center, investment and jobs created by Farmers will be a major boost to our economy, Russellville Mayor David Grissom said. Russellville has a long history of supporting business and Farmers' decision to open a distribution center here is further testament to our teamwork approach to working with business and industry, Grissom added.
Franklin County Development Authority Executive Director Mitch Mays, who will be leaving his position for a new job with the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway Authority next month, said Farmers Home Furniture continues a trend of outstanding companies spreading their roots in Franklin County.
We are grateful that Farmers Home Furniture chose to make this sizeable investment in Franklin County. Companies that locate in Franklin County, Alabama, always have successful endeavors, Mays said. Farmers will be a great corporate citizen in Franklin County and the new jobs they create will have a lasting impact on our community.
Since 2012, Franklin County has seen a total of 12 new company announcements and industrial expansions totaling $97,828,000 in capital investment and 1,105 new jobs. Franklin County has the lowest unemployment rate in northwest Alabama at 6.4%.
Clint Hall, Farmers Home Furniture President, said the hiring process for Russellville will begin in earnest in October, with assistance from the Alabama Department of Labor. Additional incentives will come through the Alabama Industrial Development Training program in the form of pre-employment training for prospective applicants.
We'll start out with 30 jobs when we open on January 1, (2017), Hall said. We'll have people working in delivery, each department will have a department head earning a good salary and we'll be looking for a manager and IT (Information Technology) staff as well, Hall said.
