News of yet another retail closure in Rome appears to be an unwelcome business trend, Mayor Wright Bagby said Tuesday.
Savvy Scrubs at 215 N. Fourth Ave., announced it will close its doors for good at the end of January.
That comes on the heels of similar announcements from the Gap in Mount Berry Square mall and Chico’s and Alisha’s Hallmark in the Riverbend Center.
And Wada Metals, located at the Floyd County Industrial Park, also revealed recently it had closed its plant.
“This has got to stop,” said Bagby, referring to the latest in a litany of closings in the last two weeks.
Add them all up, and it’s not 60 jobs, but it is a trend that Bagby called “disturbing.”
Bagby said he had been caught off-guard by the demise of Wada Metals and added that, while he hopes the city doesn’t get any more news about closing of any kind, the Wada shutdown is bad because it’s hard to replace industrial jobs.
Al Hodge, Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, said the closings illustrate how no community is immune from the economic downturn.
“The national economy has affected us locally,” Hodge said.
Retailers are even closing the doors of profitable local stores, Hodge said, pointing to external reasons for closures.
Hodge also pointed to the closures as concrete reasons to shop locally.
Savvy Scrubs owner Christy Smith said Tuesday demand has been dwindling for the designer medical uniforms, shoes, and accessories for health care professionals. Smith has been in business for four years, including two at her current location.
“I’m so grateful I’ve had the best customers in the world,” she said. “They’re loyal, but a lot of them aren’t getting uniform allowances like they used to.”
Smith said she took a big hit when Harbin Clinic decided to contract outside the county for its employees’ scrubs. Customers from the clinic had added $70,000 to $80,000 a year to her coffers, she said.
“We won’t get one penny of their uniform allowance, starting in January,” she said. “Of course the economy has been bad, but it’s sad when a company decides its employees can’t shop with us and get reimbursed. We can’t survive without companies in town supporting us.”
