New Jersey-based Mannington Mills will close its residential carpet manufacturing plant in the Gaston County town of McAdenville, resulting in the loss of 296 jobs. The first separations will take place Dec. 27, according to a filing with the N.C. Department of Commerce.
Mannington announced Tuesday that the 110-year-old company was exiting the residential carpet business to focus on its residential wood and vinyl flooring offerings.
The move comes five years after Salem, New Jersey-based Mannington bought the McAdenville facility from Pharr Fibers and Yarns, an 80-year-old iconic Gaston County textile business. At the time, Pharr had more than 1,000 employees in its various operations.
“The departure of Invista and the Stainmaster brand from the carpet fibers business, and the continued consumer shift to resilient flooring, has forced us to reevaluate residential carpet in our portfolio. This has led us to make the difficult decision to exit residential carpet,” Tom Pendley, CEO of Mannington Mills, said in a statement. The company also will close two former Pharr carpet plants in Georgia.
Pharr is famous for helping the McAdenville Men’s Club begin the tradition of decorating the town from Dec. 1-26 with Christmas lights, beginning in 1956. The town of less than 1,000 residents became known as Christmas Town USA and it continues to gather national attention each holiday season for the display that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each December.
Mooresville-based Lowe’s acquired the Stainmaster brand from Wichita, Kansas-based Invista in 2021.
Pharr used to help residents pay their electric bills in the month of December. The lights are now a project between the town, individual homeowners and the McAdenville Community Foundation, which includes the Carstarphen family, the previous owners of Pharr Yarns.