Industries Moving To Rowan County Help To Improve Struggling Economy

ROWAN COUNTY, NC — Just off I-85 in China Grove sits a glimpse of the future for a county attempting to not repeat the past. The Macy’s distribution center is expected to bring around 2,000 jobs to the county.

“This is representative really of things that are happening in Rowan County,” said Rowan County Commissioner, Greg Edds.

Not far down the road from Macy’s, ground has already been broken on a massive RV dealership. Just last week, Amrep Manufacturing announced it will be building another facility, adding another 200 jobs.

“We saw distribution centers, and that was easy because we had land. But now we’re seeing that turn into a lot of manufacturing and higher paying jobs,” explained Edds.

County officials seemed intent on not repeating the past when Cannon Mills closed more than 20 years ago, creating a ripple effect from county to county.

“Rowan County really took it on the chin. I’m told that we still own the record for the most jobs lost in a single day,” continued Edds, “Let’s be honest, when nothing was happening, when our poverty was approaching 30%, when unemployment was double digits, we literally begged folks to come here.”

Edds said part of the begging meant giving large chunks of land away to entice larger companies to move back to the county.

“Once they did that, that really started to get things rolling for us,” explained Rod Crider with the Rowan Economic Development Council.

Crider said between that unconventional idea, Chewy moving into the county and construction finally finishing on 85, Rowan County became a lot more enticing.

“When that was opened up, it really helped to facilitate the the traffic between Charlotte and our region and got rid of that perception that we were so far removed from Charlotte,” said Crider of the construction completion.

The county has seen steady growth in recent years with a population bump of just under 3.5%. That number should continue to grow with the county building 4,800 new homes, including in East Spencer.

“There’s lots of homes being built for the first time in a generation in East Spencer. We’re seeing them take control of  their community,” said Edds.