KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Officials with True Value Hardware notified Missouri officials last week it could lay off nearly 70 employees and close its distribution center in south Kansas City, Missouri, before the end of the year.
Earlier this month, the 76-year-old Chicago-based company announced it had filed for bankruptcy protection.
NBC Chicago reported the company announced its assets would be acquired by rival company Do it Best.
In an Oct. 15 filing to the state, the company’s chief human resource officer said if the sale to Do it Best or another buyer doesn’t go through, the company could be forced to wind down its operations, including its Kansas City distribution center at 14900 U.S. Highway 71, around mid-December.
“Our primary goal throughout our strategic evaluation process has been — and remains — preserving jobs and avoiding or postponing facility closures,” True Value CHRO Irma Quintana wrote in the filing.
The company believes the bankruptcy process is the best way to achieve those goals, Quintana said.
Several employees at the distribution center are represented by Local 541 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
“While bumping rights generally exist in the event of layoffs for the impacted union employees at the Kansas City, MO, facility, such rights would not apply in the event of a total closure,” Quintana said.
The notice of the potential closure and layoffs are separate from any actions at True Value stores, which are independently owned and operated.
Seven True Value locations operate in the immediate Kansas City vicinity, with several more located on the outskirts. It’s not immediately clear which or how many stores might be impacted.
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