April 06--More than 300 Tiger Direct employees in Illinois will lose their jobs as the electronics company closes most of its retail stores to focus on its business-to-business operations.
Tiger Direct on May 9 will close its four Illinois retail stores, in Orland Park, Hoffman Estates, Naperville and Vernon Hills, as part of a plan to close 31 of its 34 stores nationwide, a company spokeswoman said. About 40 people work in each store, she said.
It also will close its Naperville distribution facility in June, affecting 172 workers there, the company said in a report filed with Illinois last month. Florida-based Tiger Direct, which sells computers, cellphones and consumer electronics, will continue to service consumers via its website.
The job cuts at Tiger Direct were among 2,874 layoffs reported last month to the Illinois Department of Labor, as mandated by state law. Those notices were made public Monday.
The majority of the reported layoffs are at U.S. Steel's Granite City Works plant, near St. Louis, which will eliminate 2,060 jobs starting May 28. Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel announced two weeks ago that it was idling the plant because of challenging market conditions including "reduced steel prices, unfair trade, imports and fluctuating oil prices."
Central Beverage Co., a distributor based in Broadview, filed a notice to terminate 124 workers April 30, the closing date of its acquisition by Clarksville, Tenn.-based Lakeshore Beverage.
But some of those employees may be rehired by Lakeshore, Donna Spagnola, president of Central Beverage, said.
Lakeshore acquired Central's alcoholic beverage distribution rights and the companies formed a joint venture to distribute its nonalcoholic portfolios, which also will be operated by Lakeshore.
Other companies that reported layoffs were:
--Flying Food Fare Midway plans to lay off 32 workers next month. The airline catering company, whose founder and CEO Sue Gin died in September, declined to comment.
--Sterling National Bank will lay off 33 Chicago workers starting next month as it eliminates duplicate operational positions following its acquisition of Chicago-based Damian Services Corp., a provider of payroll funding and related services. Montebello, N.Y.-based Sterling is retaining all sales and client services positions at Damian, a spokesperson said.
--Randstad Staffing, an employment placement agency in Aurora, is laying off 44 workers at the start of June.
--New Breed Leasing of New Jersey, a logistics outsourcing company based in High Point, N.C., reported layoffs affecting 118 workers at its Bolingbrook facility, starting at the end of May.
The Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers to provide 60 days' notice of pending plant closings or mass layoffs. The law applies to businesses with at least 75 full-time employees. A "mass layoff" is defined as job cuts at a single site during any 30-day period of at least 33 percent of workers and at least 25 employees, or at least 250 employees regardless of the percentage.
aelejalderuiz@tribpub.com
