Community Chat

[VaBelle35]

BONSACK, Va. (AP) — Retailer HSN plans to close an order fulfillment facility in Virginia and move the operations to Tennessee. The facility in Roanoke County employs 350 people. Media outlets report that the company notified the facility’s workers of the closure on Tuesday. HSN says in a statement that the facility can’t accommodate its distribution network’s expanding needs and its plans for automation. The facility’s operations will be transferred to Piney Flats, Tennessee. Company spokesman Brad Bohnert says the closure will be conducted in phases, beginning in April 2016.

[NickNack1]

I'm in East TN.  Piney Flats is tiny!  I wonder where in the world they'll put it.

[Suziepeach]

HSN has been in Piney Flats for a while, they're adding on from Roanoke to Piney Flats.  I'm from up there, beautiful country! 

[CrazyDaisy]

There is already a facility, I have been recieving and returning packages to that loctation for years.  Perhaps they have more room to expand that facility.

[millieshops]

Posters have been telling us for a few years that HSN is growing crazily and here's proof.  They need a newer and bigger facility/warehouse.  It's bad news for those currently employed in VA, but I'm thinking land may be much less expensive in that TN area than it is where they are. If they're going to automate more (ala Amazon), they may not need all those workers.  There should be a discussion in business news with some answers at some point soon.

[VaBelle35]

Also, when companies want to expand, they put feelers out to different states to see who bites and who comes back with the most attractive package.

TN may have made them a sweet deal that VA couldn't compete with.  They get all kinds of tax incentives and stuff like that to woo the company in the short term and the state benefits in the long term with both new jobs and then the surrounding commerce that comes from putting a facility in that area.

Look at QVC Studio Park.  They just put a Wegmans across the street from QVC.  It's stuff like that that jurisdictions love.

[Preds]

VaBelle ... TN loves to give tax incentives so I feel pretty sure that's exactly what we did.

[Southernfriedchick]

I have received orders from Piney Flats, TN., for over a year.