SIKESTON'S FLEMING TO CLOSE; 175 EMPLOYEES WILL LOSE JOBS

SIKESTON -- The 175 employees of Fleming Cos. Inc. in Sikeston will lose their jobs when the grocery distributor closes its warehouse within the next three months.

The company is closing or selling four supply centers in a restructuring aimed at making it more competitive. The other centers are in Johnson City, Tenn., Huntingdon, Pa., and Laurens, Iowa.

The company's chain of Hyde Park markets also will be sold.

The total number of jobs affected will be about 500.

Reorganization of the company is expected to be complete by mid-1999.

Employees of the company's Sikeston center at 1500 W. Malone were given the news Monday morning. Employees are to receive a notice 60 days from the plant's anticipated closing, which they were told probably will occur by March.

"Everyone is in shock," said one longtime employee of the company.

There had been rumors that the center was about to close for years, she said, "but that's all it had ever been."

She said the company is being generous with severance pay, giving workers a week's pay for each year they have been with the company.

Some of the employees have been with the company for more than 30 years, either working in the office or warehouse.

Losing their job will hit some families especially hard, the employee said. "We have a lot of couples that work here and a lot of single parents."

The employee is a Sikeston native but said moving away is one possibility she and her husband will consider. "There are going to be so many people looking for work," she said.

Grocers in the region who have been served by the Sikeston center will receive their goods from the Fleming Co. distribution centers in Memphis or Kansas City once the closings occur, Fleming spokesman Shane Boyd said. Distribution centers serve a radius of about 200 miles.

Boyd said it is impossible to tell yet how many of the 500 workers may find jobs at other Fleming plants. The Oklahoma City-based company has 39,000 employees across the country. It will have 34 distribution centers after the four are closed.

The company previously had announced closings of distribution centers in El Paso and Houston, Texas, and Portland, Ore.

Fleming anticipates taking a loss for the fourth quarter.

Besides national brands, Fleming distributes IGA, Piggly Wiggly, BestYet, Rainbow and Marquee brands.