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Travel agencies saw airline business drop following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Jene Tolson, a travel consultant with Fredericksburg Travel, answers a call about train travel.
Wards closed its Spotsylvania Mall store last spring after the chain filed for bankruptcy. Costco plans to open a wholesale club there next spring.
Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T took over Fredericksburg State Bank in September. FSB's old headquarters on George Street and three other area offices were included in the $181 million deal.
Robert Christian of Ladysmith searches for jobs at the Virginia Employment Commission office. |
For Fredericksburg's economy, and for many of the companies that make up its fabric, 2001 will go down as a year of extremes.
The year began much as 2000 ended, with a booming economy--fueled in large part by the region's construction juggernaut--and a tight labor market that had job-seekers overjoyed, and companies practically fighting over them. Then came Sept. 11.
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia delivered a crippling blow to the travel industry in particular.
That, combined with war and a slowing economy that teetered into recession by the second half of the year, has taken a toll across the economic landscape.
Here are some of the highlights:
Area travel agents were among those suffering the most in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Others took a hit as the economy plummeted after the attacks. For some, the company image was damaged. A few area gas stations enraged customers by spiking prices right after the attacks. Rental car companies infuriated people by charging exorbitant fees to people who turned to them when the nation's airports closed.
Immediately after the attacks, area shopping centers and malls were like ghost towns. By the Christmas shopping season, area stores offered deep discounts to encourage spending and reported success.
Meanwhile, some businesses boomed. Bookstores were wiped clean of Bibles, apocalyptic material and anything explaining why some extremist Muslims hate Americans. Local business owners who stocked up on flags and other patriotic items saw sales boom. Local dealers had brisk sales as the attacks prompted zero-percent financing deals on new cars.
Wards--the venerable department store chain--announced it would close after filing for bankruptcy. About 125 employees lost their jobs once the Spotsylvania Mall store closed, and the mall lost shoppers.
Jobless rates in Fredericksburg reached 4 percent in October, the first month to fully reflect the impact of the attacks. That was up from 2.1 percent in October 2000.
Local residents flooded the local Virginia Employment Commission office in search of work after being laid off from technology firms, airlines and other offices.
But the uncertain times worked in shoppers' favor. Many car dealers sold record amounts of vehicles by offering interest-free financing.
A man died during an explosion at Euro Composites in Culpeper, which the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is still investigating.
Norman Wells Jr., 41, of Orange died in July.
A Free Lance-Star investigation showed that since Virginia started running its own OSHA program in the 1970s, it has never fined a single local, state or federal government agency, regardless of the seriousness of the violation. Yet area private companies have faced fines as steep as $75,000 for a single incident.
The Transportation Department has the second-highest number of violations in the greater Fredericksburg region over the past 25 years. The No. 1 local violator was Keller Industries, a private company that stopped doing business in the state in 1996.
Two other governments, Fredericksburg and Stafford County, were also among the top 10 violators--with many of those infractions found at area schools.
Local residents struggled with wireless phone outages and disrupted Internet service.
It was tough finding reliable Internet service, especially when it came to high-speed cable modem access. Even-faster DSL, or digital subscriber line, Internet access was not even available to nearly all area residents.
Adelphia Cable's customers repeatedly complained about lengthy disruptions in service. Cox Cable, the other major provider in the area, established new Internet access last year, but it sputtered and was just relaunched in late 2001.
A major problem is the Fredericksburg area's position in limbo between Washington and Richmond. This also affected wireless service, which is spotty in more rural areas but was expanded by providers throughout the year.
Cingular had a massive outage in August.
Customers had a tough time accessing overwhelmed wireless service during catastrophes like a February 114-car pileup on Interstate 95 and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Fredericksburg-area consumers fought big companies, sometimes using creative methods for getting corporate attention.
A Spotsylvania County man plastered his car with dozens of invoices from repairs made in just the 15 months since he bought it brand new. He parked it on the side of busy U.S. 17 in southern Stafford, with balloons and massive signs displayed.
A Stafford County woman took on AOL after she and dozens believed they deserve prizes the companies refuse to award. Officials at AOL said a computer glitch was responsible for the online announcement that she won $10,000--and offered $200 gift certificates to Target or Amazon.com instead.
Locals who had tires recalled by Ford had a hard time getting them replaced. Even though Ford forged agreements with tire dealers to offer the replacements for free, many area shops were either out of tires or refusing to participate right after the announcement in summer.
But consumers got a small financial boost when the federal government issued $300 income tax refunds to individuals, $600 to couples, with several area retail business competing for the extra cash.
The economy may not have hit area assisted living centers, but one owner had his own problems.
The state Department of Social Services found many violations at three local homes belonging to Dr. Nazir Chaudhary--Commonwealth Assisted Living Center in Spotsylvania County and Dogwood Retirement Center and Dogwood North Retirement Center, both in Stafford County.
Commonwealth was bought by another doctor and is now operating under a conditional permit as Onyx Assisted Living Center.
Chaudhary is in the process of appealing the decision to deny renewing licenses at both Dogwood centers.
There were two notable corporate marriages consummated during the year, involving a longtime financial institution and building supply company.
BB&T, the nation's 16th-largest bank-holding company, in September officially took over the four area branches of Fredericksburg State Bank.
In June, shareholders of Virginia Capital Bancshares--the parent company of FSB--accepted BB&T's $181 million buyout offer in a stock swap.
FSB was formed in December 1998 when the 76-year-old Fredericksburg Savings & Loan Association converted from a mutual association to a public bank-holding company. The savings and loan was one of the oldest and most well-known financial institutions in the region.
Earlier this month, Wilson Brothers lumberyard was purchased by one of the South's big building-supply firms.
Carolina Holdings Inc. of Raleigh, N.C.--the parent company of Carolina Builders--reached an agreement this week to buy Wilson Brothers' four locations, including its headquarters site on Central Road.
Business Editor Rusty Dennen contributed to this report.
