Parker Sales undergoes expansion at new facility

By COBY LaRUE
Staff

While most economic news for the county has been anything but promising, one local business is growing in its new location. Parker Sales and Service is putting the finishing touches on a 5,000 square-foot expansion that will effectively double the size of the current facility.

The total investment for the company will be about $250,000, including the existing structure. In addition, the company is adding more than $100,000 in new machinery and inventory. The total investment at the plant is around $500,000, Plant Manager Sam Walker said in a recent interview.

Parker Sales makes dust collection filters that are used in many types of manufacturing, including the making of yarn, bakery goods and other items.

Sam Walker looks through an open door in the new expansion of Parker Sales, located just off the Sparta Parkway in Sparta.

Walker said the company now has about 23 employees, up from just 6 when the new facility on the Sparta Parkway opened in September 1997. Included in that number are three office workers, three supervisors and 17 production workers.

Walker said the company is not having any trouble finding good, qualified help for production jobs. "If anything, we've been flooded with applications," he said, noting that any job openings in the future will be posted at the Alleghany Employment Security Commission.

"Right now, we have all the staff we need," he added.

The company's history in Alleghany began in 1990 in a small facility on Doughton Street.

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