Reprinted with permission from
The Courier=Times Online

This seemed assured this week as two former C&A managers announced they have bought and acquired the assets of C&A’s Sycamore Plant on North Main Street and will resume making paint rollers at the facility “almost immediately,” doing business as P&A Industrial Fabrications LLC.

A simultaneous announcement was made Tuesday by Gov. Mike Easley, who said P&A Industrial has been awarded a $70,000 grant from the Governor’s One North Carolina Fund to assist the new company’s transition.

Easley said P&A’s investment would exceed $2.8 million, and the company  would employ 65 workers within three years.

Acquisition of the Sycamore Plant was put together by Claude Pruitt and Jack Adams, both of whom were directors of manufacturing for C&A’s fabrics division unit.

In a prepared release, the company said plans for the continued business included consolidation of all of the assets into the Sycamore facility on North MainStreet behind what was C&A’s Main Plant at Cavel. Operations, officials said, would begin “almost immediately” with from 20 to 30 employees but that anticipated growth over the next three years should take the employment level to 65, which was roughly the number of workers C&A had at the Sycamore Plant when the company announced it would shut down all  Roxboro operations by the end of August after nearly eight decades as one of Person County’s leading industries.

“This was a big endeavor for the two of us to put together, but was made possible through our faith and the help of a number of local people who wanted the project to stay here in Roxboro,” said Adams in a prepared statement.

Adams credited Glen Newsome, executive director of the Person County Economic Development Commission, with being “more than instrumental in bringing together all of the key people, including Bernard Torain of the State Department of Commerce in Raleigh. The two of them worked tirelessly to secure a commitment from the Governor’s One North Carolina Fund for assistance in new job creation and new investment as well as local matching funds.”

That assistance was, Adams said, “a key in our decision to stay in Roxboro ... as opposed to other locations.”

Adams indicated that a government Small Business Administration loan for the project was coordinated through a Cary branch of BB&T, and he praised executives with the Roxboro branch of BB&T for their handling of the local transactions.

In a statement, Claude Pruitt commented, “We are both very thankful and optimistic for the future of this business.  We are also very glad that we were able to save some of the jobs recently lost in the shutdowns.  We have to start with building back the business that we lost due to the bankruptcy situation, but we have a well — trained workforce from Collins & Aikman and a great community to work in.  Hopefully we will be able to give back to the community in the not too distant future.” 

EDC Director Newsome told The Courier-Times Tuesday, “This is great news for our community and state, and we appreciate Jack and Claude hanging in there with us throughout this five month process.  “This is a good project for Roxboro and a good project for Person County,” said Newsome, who noted, “The average wage, including salaried positions, will be approximately $33,644 per year. These are good-paying jobs for our community, and the vast majority of these new opportunities will be accorded to former C&A employees.

Like Adams, Newsome complimented the assistance of the state Commerce Department.

“Gene Byrd and Bernard Torain of the North Carolina Department of Commerce,” Newsome said,  “were instrumental in helping us locate this project, as were all of our other industrial allies, including our good friends at Progress Energy. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the company and to bringing this project to full fruition.”

P&A Industrial founders Pruitt and Adams worked their last day at C&A on Aug. 31, but they had been working behind the scenes to get their new company in place, Adams said in a telephone interview with The Courier-Times on Tuesday.

Adams reiterated appreciation to all parties who had a hand in helping the pair to overcome obstacles in their path as they sought, he said, to bring “some good news” to Roxboro.

“There has been so much bad news,” Adams said, “maybe this will bring some hope.”

Adams worked with C&A for six years and Pruitt was with the company here for just under two years. The two men hope that the experience they gained at their former jobs will help them provide work for their former co-workers.

Adams said he had always dreamed of owning his own business and that for Pruitt, “It is his passion.”

They plan to sell product to the customer base C&A already had in place.

In announcing the P&A operation Tuesday, Easley also announced that Oregon-based Continental Components, which makes hardwood moldings for commercial and residential construction, would open a plant in Alamance County. He said that projected would entail 34 new jobs and an investment of $5.2 million over the next three years.

“The decision by these two companies to choose North Carolina means new jobs for the hardworking people of Alamance and Person counties,” Easley said. “We will continue to make the necessary investments in education, workforce development and infrastructure that make our state the best choice for manufacturing companies that are expanding or relocating.”

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C-T Staff Writer Phyliss Boatwright contributed to this report.