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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Nestle Exits Glendale, Offers Staff Menu of Options

Nestle USA will move its corporate headquarters from Glendale to Arlington County, Va., affecting 1,200 jobs and cutting the last of the food giant’s ties with the San Fernando Valley. In a statement about the move, Nestle claimed relocating to Virginia will afford greater proximity to the bulk of its operations, as 75 percent of its factories and 85 percent of its biggest customers are located in the eastern half of the United States. Having a presence in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area also will improve Nestle’s access to important regulatory groups and non-governmental organizations, the company said, giving it a stake in conversations about legislative decisions that could impact its business interests. “We carefully considered a number of options and Arlington hits all the marks,” Nestle Chief Executive Paul Grimwood said. “This location allows us to be closer to our business operations, our customers and other important stakeholders.” The U.S. subsidiary of Swiss consumer products company Nestle S.A. moved into its Glendale headquarters in 1990, two years after opening a 184,000-square-foot facility in Chatsworth to manufacture its Hot Pockets frozen meals. Nestle closed the plant in 2014, citing “challenges to its business needs.” The 360 employees who worked there were told they could move to the company’s new Hot Pockets factory in Mount Sterling, Ky., look for other local jobs within Nestle or accept severance pay and placement assistance, Nestle said. Most of the 1,200 employees at the company’s corporate headquarters have been offered the same arrangement. Ninety percent are eligible to relocate with the company, according to Nestle spokeswoman Edie Burge. Approximately 750 positions will move to the new headquarters in Virginia; another 300 will transfer to Solon, Ohio, where Nestle’s technical and supply chain divisions will join its prepared foods businesses. The remaining positions will be split between the company’s other locations around the country, including its Purina PetCare headquarters in St. Louis where Nestle will consolidate its information technology operations. The move is scheduled to commence later this year, with completion expected by the end of 2018. While Nestle will no longer have a presence in the San Fernando Valley, the company noted that it would continue to operate in other parts of California, where it maintains nine manufacturing facilities and employs roughly 5,500 workers. CarMax in Palmdale Automobile retailer CarMax Inc. has opened a dealership in the Antelope Valley, bringing around 60 new jobs to the area and shelling out more than $15,000 to local charities. The Richmond, Va. company on Feb. 1 held a grand opening event at its site on the northeast corner of Technology Drive and Fifth Street West. The three-building, 16-acre property includes a carwash, a sales office and a used-car reconditioning facility, which is still under construction. When complete, the reconditioning facility will employ another 60 workers, said Palmdale CarMax General Manager Arnold Chaparro. “CarMax is growing and opening stores in areas where there is an existing need and that reach (new) customers,” Chaparro said. “Palmdale is a wonderful community to be part of and the residents and city leaders have been very welcoming.” CarMax celebrated the launch with a $5,000 donation to the Antelope Valley Boys & Girls Clubs in Lancaster and a $10,000 donation to the YMCA of Metro Los Angeles, Antelope Valley. CarMax store associates at the Palmdale location nominated the organizations after participating in volunteer projects with them during the weeks leading up to the grand opening, Chaparro said. “Our associates really enjoy getting involved locally and look forward to participating in more volunteer opportunities in the community,” he said. Lamps Plus Warehouse Lamps Plus Inc. in Chatsworth is expanding its warehouse facilities for the first time in a decade with the purchase of a 57,000-square-foot building in Redlands. Located at 26509 Palmetto Ave., the acquired property is adjacent to the 800,000- square-foot warehouse out of which Lamps Plus runs its shipping operations and a retail outlet. The company said it purchased the new building from Precision Pet Products Inc. for $7.1 million but declined to close further terms of the deal. “With the success of our online and store sales, we needed to expand our presence to rapidly meet customers’ increasingly faster shipping time expectations,” Dennis Swanson, chief executive of Lamps Plus, said in a statement. Redlands was an ideal location for the warehouse both in light of the company’s existing operations there and because of the area’s skilled workforce, he said. Lamps Plus expects to bring in 50 new employees to run the facility, the operation of which will prioritize energy efficiency and rely on technology to streamline packing, shipping and recycling. The company employs more than 1,500 workers between its Chatsworth headquarters, retail outposts and Redlands warehouses. Staff Reporter Helen Floersh can be reached at (818) 312-3121 or [email protected].

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