During a press conference held on Wednesday, West Memphis Mayor Marco McClendon announced the city’s Family Dollar distribution center will be closing. The 850,000-SF facility, which opened in 1994, distributes across the Mid-South. The closure will impact over 300 employees.
The news comes after an FDA investigation unveiled unsanitary conditions at the facility, including contaminated food, cosmetics, medications along with a severe rat infestation. The discovery led to the temporary closing of Family Dollar stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee for weeks.
In April, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a lawsuit against Family Dollar, which alleged that the retailer, under the parent company Dollar Tree Inc., knew about the rodent infestation for years but allowed unsafe products to be sold at hundreds of stores in Arkansas and five other states throughout the region. Rutledge is seeking punitive damages, restitution and civil penalties through the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act to protect the health, safety and economic well-being of tens of thousands of Arkansas consumers who purchased or used the affected products sold by Family Dollar.
Sources said the West Memphis distribution center will continue shipping to stores until the end of June and that inventory transfers to other distribution centers will be completed in August.
Mayor McClendon specified that 320 employees will be out of a job in the next 60 days.
McClendon said the city’s employment office is looking to help Family Dollar employees. The city has also reached out to Governor Asa Hutchinson who offered to help, if needed.
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