Minnesota’s suffering a spate of bad news as two local factories, both pillars of their local communities, have recently shut down permanently.
And while this is part of a disturbing nationwide trend of substantial manufacturing losses, these local stories always hurt the most.
Case in point: Apple Valley Foods closed its pie plant in Chaska in July, with 95 jobs lost. This is a town of less than 30,000 people, so it’s not like there are 100 jobs just sitting around waiting to be filled.
Separately, Smurfit Westrock closed its St. Paul-based recycled board mill (which helps produce cardboard packaging, with many food applications) earlier this summer, with 189 jobs lost…