Several Florida warehouse jobs will be lost when Circuit City closes.

Circuit City, the country’s second-largest electronics store, is planning to close, a move that will result in the loss of hundreds of Florida jobs. According to an article by WFTV, about 100 workers will lose their jobs when the company closes its Groveland distribution center. Those employees will, however, continue to be paid for the next 60 days.

Overall, Circuit City is closing 23 stores in Central Florida, as well as the large warehouse in Lake County. The warehouse has been at the Christopher Ford Commerce Park for about 10 years. Lake County currently has an unemployment rate of about 8 percent, its worst in 20 years, which isn’t good news for future job seekers.

“You just can’t absorb all that,” Ray San Fratello, South Lake County Chamber president, said in the article. “That’s just the situation that exists here and we have to deal with it and fight through it.”

Before it decided to close, Circuit City was considering expanding into south Lake, putting a hold on the area’s business plans. The area may now focus on its plans to diversify and build its health and wellness industry. Circuit City’s closing means the store will no longer install or deliver merchandise to customers. The company will, however, offer discounts of up to 30 percent and continue to honor extended warranties.

Florida as a whole has continued to lose jobs along with the rest of the country. During November 2008, the state had a total non-farm employment of 7,823,200 workers, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 7,881,800 workers during October 2008 and a 2.6 percent decrease from last year.

Florida had an unemployment rate of 7.3 percent during November, up from 7 percent during October and higher than the national unemployment rate of 6.7 percent.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 11:36 am and is filed under Jobs, Warehousing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.