Kimber America is opening a manufacturing facility in Troy, Alabama.
Remeber that Beretta USA opened a plant in Gallatin, Tennessee, and then shuttered it’s Maryland plant because Maryland was too unfriendly to guns.
Remington also opened a plant in Huntsville and consolidated Bushmaster, DPMS, Para USA, and Remington R&D and manufacturing from separate locations to that single large facility.
My guess is that this is step one of a plan that will eventually lead to the closing down of the Yonkers, New York plant, and possibly the Montana plant and consolidate all engineering and manufacturing in a single location.
As much as I am wont to welcome another gun company to the south, and Alabama especially, I wonder how the employees at Kimber are going to take being relocated from New York City (Yonkers is not technically in NYC but is a suburb, just north of the Bronx) to southern Alabama?
There might be a bit of a culture shock there.
I’m curious if anybody wants to take bets how long it will take Kahr and Smith & Wesson to pull some to all of its engineering and manufacturing out of Massachusetts and head south?
Having grown up in the metro NY area (I am a Lawngyland boy), I can assure you of one thing. Kimber will lose about 2/3-3/4 of their Yonkers employees if they move.
The average NYer is absolutely convinced that no where else in the universe is worth living in. We actually have a hard time acknowledging that other places actually exist. Granted, if you have a pro sports team we may have heard of you, and if you are a tourist destination, we might actually visit. But, aside from that, the rest of the country is nothing but flyover country.
Now, there are a few folks, such as myself, that will develop the wisdom to flee the NY metro area (and NY state itself if they are smart), but generally, the attitude is no place is better than NYC, and I have family here, etc…
I hope Kimber clears out, and I hope I am wrong about how many of their employees will move with them. NY State deserves to lose the high paying jobs, and the tax revenue.
Maybe this is a prelude to the final dividing of the Country,where REAL AMERICA moves south and We the People give the north east to the miserable liberals so they can have their utopia while we get on with enjoying FREEDOM
heh heh heh..
<3