(The Center Square) – Shaun Adams can remember when his hometown of Robbinsville, N.C. was thriving, with four factories humming and producing regular paychecks for the people who worked there.
Then came the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.
“When NAFTA first passed, our two electronic plants left immediately,” Adams told The Center Square.
Within a few years, a sewing plant and a furniture factory also closed.
Adams was one of the 400 workers at the furniture plant who lost their jobs. He went back to school to earn his master’s degree. He found a job at a local grocery store.
Then Adams decided to run for mayor of Robbinsville, hoping to help recruit new industry businesses and jobs to the town.
“That was my main motivation to run,” he said. “Before, town officials before did nothing to save our jobs.”
Adams is still the mayor and Robbinsville is making a comeback.
Chinese paper products manufacturer Kingsun Eco-pack Co. plans to invest $80 million to refurbish the former furniture factory. The Robbinsville plant, about 90 miles from Asheville, and 65 miles from Interstate 40, will produce paper trays and platters commonly used in grocery stores and restaurants. It will employ an estimated 500 people.
It’s Kingsun’s first U.S. factory and will help it better serve its customers here, state officials said.
The jobs will pay a minimum average wage of $46,707, the state said.
“They were looking for a strong workforce,” Adams said. “It will save shipping costs and tariff costs and put them closer to their customers.”
The company is already working on renovating the former furniture factory, Adams said.
“They are moving machinery in now,” he said.
North Carolina Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley recently praised Robbinsville and Graham County for their work in recruiting Kingsun. With a population of only 8,030, only two counties have less population than Graham County.
“It was literally an abandoned furniture facility that closed more than 10 years ago,” Lilley told The Center Square. “Their team really helped nurture prospects to come look at a very rural county to a good facility where they’ve got talent, people who know how to use their hands and make things.”
Landing the Kingsun project is a win for small-town America, Adams said.
“It was a wonderful place to grow up,” he said of Robbinsville.
An estimated 80% of Graham County is national forestland, the mayor said.
“I love the area, I love the people,” Adams said.
