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Wendy Pivaral Rapp,
Editor |
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Jeanne Dazet, Publisher |
Edith Layton, Webmaster |
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Randa Announces More Jobs |
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Company Applauds Parish Efforts |
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| Randa Corp.
Announces More Jobs For St. Charles From The St.
Charles Parish Dept. Of Economic Development. |
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(Hahnville, October 7, 2003)—One
of the biggest economic development stories in the New Orleans area just
got
bigger! |
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| On the heels of the Grand Opening
celebration of its 160,000-square foot corporate headquarters and
distribution center in James Business
Park, Randa Corp. recently announced
that it will be shifting another 135 jobs from its Chicago operations to
St. Charles Parish. The world’s largest men’s accessories company will
transfer the distribution of its belts, wallets and suspenders affiliate
to its new, $10 million St. Rose facility. This will result in
Randa Corp.
employing over 300 individuals at its St. Charles
Parish headquarters. |
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Eagerly anticipating
Randa’s
decision to make its plans public, Parish officials are
ecstatic with the announcement. “The primary reason why we recruited the
company so heavily was because of the employment opportunities for our
local residents,” stated St. Charles Parish President
Albert Laque.
“Latest reports submitted by the company indicate that over 75% of their
job vacancies have been filled by local residents.This shows why this
endeavor was one of the elite economic development projects in the South
and why we invested so much time and effort in the recruitment process.
Randa
is a rapidly-growing, industry leader that we are
fortunate to have as a member of our business community.” |
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| The feeling is mutual according to
Mr. Bill Murphy, Randa Corp.’s Chief
Financial Officer. “We could have
easily selected Jefferson Parish, Mississippi or any other location to
make our investment, but we chose St. Parish because of the incentives
offered by the State and St. Charles Parish, location and site, the
Parish’s labor force and most importantly because we were certain that we
were dealing with honest people. A lack of anyone of these factors would
have resulted in our relocating somewhere else.” Murphy continues, “We
chose St.Charles Parish not because of the work of any other organization,
but rather as a result of the countless hours of time spent working with
Mr.Corey Faucheux (Director of Economic
Development & Tourism) and other
Parish officials on this project and the trust developed from this
relationship.” |
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| “Randa’s
decision to transfer more jobs to its St.Charles Parish facility further
solidifies this project as one of the major economic development victories
for the entire region,” states Mr. Tom
Kurtz, Vice President of Economic Development.
“This project is symbolic of a perfect, regional
economic development process that successfully retained a growing company
from moving to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
MetroVision is the region’s economic
development resource. However, each local municipality is responsible for
building the business case for why its community is great place to do
business. Although we participated, it was the leadership and expertise of
the Parish President and the Parish’s Economic Development Department that
ultimately closed the deal for the region,” says Kurtz. |
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| Randa Corp.
currently has facilities and operations in six countries and is best known
for its line of neckwear, belts, and personal leather goods. Its products
are sold under such brand names as
Geoffrey Beene, Van Heusen, Levis, Dockers, Arrow, Joseph Abboud, Izod,
Dickies, Columbia, Tabasco, The Beatles, Save the Children and Countess
Mara. |
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