Carolina Maid To Close
Granite Quarry dressmaking company ends 64 years in operation; 45 jobs cut

BY MARK WINEKA
SALISBURY POST

GRANITE QUARRY - Carolina Maid Products Inc., a business fixture in Granite Quarry since 1935, will cease manufacturing at its 40,000-square-foot plant on Main Street at the end of the spring, management said today.

The dressmaking company employs 45 people. They learned of the pending closing at the end of their work day Thursday.

''Our decision to cease manufacturing in Granite Quarry should surprise no one,'' Carolina Maid President David Swaim said, ''given the trends in the apparel industry and particularly the competitive pressures from Latin American and Asian producers. We've been up against serious price competition for the past 15 years. Since NAFTA and the devaluations in Asia, it's been a struggle to keep our heads above water.''

Carolina Maid marks the third Rowan County plant this month to announce that it will be closing in the near future. Cone Mills, which employs 625 people, and Frito Lay, which employs 93, also have said they will cease Rowan operations this spring.

In Iredell County this week, Burlington Mills said it will be closing a 640-employee plant in Mooresville and a 135-employee operation in Statesville.

''It's sad to announce the close of a business,'' Swaim said, ''especially one that has flourished for most of its 64 years. We can take comfort from the fact that more than half of our employees are reaching normal retirement age. Nevertheless, it's a lot like having a death in the family.''

Swaim said he hoped some portion of the business could survive by shifting manufacturing to a lower-cost operator. His father, owner and board chairman W.S. ''Bill'' Swaim, said he would like to see the Granite Quarry property sold to another manufacturer, thereby keeping jobs here, or redeveloped for the town's benefit.

''However,'' Bill Swaim said, ''our immediate concern is for our employees. Carolina Maid has been privileged to enjoy the services of an incredibly loyal and stable workforce. Many of our employees have been with us their entire working careers, some for more than 40 years.

''We're like family. We will work closely with the Employment Security Commission to make sure they get all the support that is possible.''

Swaim joined Carolina Maid in 1962 and worked at the plant until his retirement in 1990. His sons, David and Doug, both work for the company. Carolina Maid has always made dresses, but it also made slippers for more than 30 years, until 1967.

C.H. Deal and others founded the company in 1935, and ownership was still divided among the founding group's heirs until the Swaims bought them out early last year.

Bill Swaim's father-in-law, John L. Henderson, became a shareholder and officer in the corporation in 1946. Henderson ran the company between 1946 and 1967, when Bill Swaim succeeded him. Bill Swaim turned things over to David Swaim in 1990.

The company enjoyed its greatest success in the late 1970s when it had 245 employees and annual sales of $3 million. Company officials said sales have been on a gradual decline for the past 10 years, although the company remained profitable ''until just recently.''

The company's board recommended liquidation as early as last spring. The Swaims said they bought out the other shareholders then in a ''last-ditch effort'' to give their turnaround plan a chance.

''We are making good progress building sales,'' David Swaim said, ''but we haven't been able to raise prices sufficiently to make up for increasing costs.''