Owners of the Everett Foodliner have filed a WARN notice ahead of the business being sold to another owner. Employees will be laid off when the business changes hands, but they will be able to reapply for their jobs with the new owners. Photo courtesy Google Maps

Two Bedford County businesses have filed WARN notices with the state Department of Labor and Industry.

The Everett Foodliner Inc. filed a closure notice that will affect 64 employees, according to the document. The closure, set for April 20, affects both the Everett Foodliner and the Saxton Market.

The grocery store is changing hands, according to company officials, and all employees will have the opportunity to reapply for their jobs.

Green Leaf Medicals LLC in Saxton also filed a WARN notice this month.

The medical marijuana grow facility is set for closure on April 18, affecting 52 employees.

Jen Marsh, president and CEO of the Bedford County Development Association, said CareerLink personnel are actively involved and supporting those who are losing their jobs.

The state WARN Act mandates that companies and employers give a minimum 60-day notice of closure or mass layoffs. The notice is given to affected employees, the state and/or local representatives.

Grocery stores changing hands

Despite the WARN notice for closure, the Everett and Saxton communities will not be without their groceries, said Lisa Appleby, whose husband Bob and his brother Joe have owned and operated the stores for decades, following in their father’s footsteps.

While Appleby could not disclose the name of the new owners, employees were being introduced to them during a meeting after work Wednesday, she said, adding that the WARN notice was filed because employees will be laid off when the business officially changes hands. She reiterated that employees will be able to reapply for their jobs with the new owners.

Appleby said the decision to sell the stores was difficult — Bob and Joe have each worked at the stores for more than 50 years, Bob starting when he was 12 years old and Joe not much later. Appleby herself has worked with her husband for more than 30 years.

The groceries have been a staple in the Everett and Saxton areas, offering everything from meats and produce to dairy and hot deli items, as well as sundry household items.

Keeping up-to-date with technology, the Foodliner has its own website, where the weekly sales flier, digital coupons and pages of recipes can be found.

It’s important to the Applebys that grocery stores continue to operate in the Everett and Saxton communities, Lisa Appleby said.

“We’re retiring,” she said, but they are not leaving the communities that have supported them over the years.

“We feel we are doing the best for the community and our employees. … It’s been an emotional few days” after word got out that they were selling the business, she said.

“It will be a big change for all of us,” she said. “People have told us that it’s the end of an era.”

The next few months will be a period of transition and Appleby admits it will be “bittersweet.”

“We know everybody that comes in,” she said.

Marijuana grow facility

Marsh said the closure of Green Leaf Medicals LLC in Saxton is disappointing for the community.

Bringing the facility into Saxton was a win for the Bedford County Development Association, as Green Leaf purchased the defunct Seton factory.

At the time of its purchase in April 2017, the 274,000-square-foot building had been vacant for about a decade, according to previous Mirror reports.

Green Leaf began operations in Saxton in summer 2019 with about 100 employees. Throughout its tenure, it invested about $50 million into the facility, including a $35 million Phase II expansion project that was to create 500 additional new jobs. Phase II never got off the ground.

In January 2023, the company announced through a WARN notice that it would lay off 73 employees at the Saxton facility.

In a statement at that time, the company blamed the supply and demand levels of the market and said the facility’s future rests with lawmakers, who continue to weigh the pros and cons of making marijuana legal.

The Green Leaf facility in Saxton, listed online as an 80,000-square-foot medical cannabis cultivation facility and extraction and infused manufacturing lab, will be shuttered April 18.

Additional information about the closure was not available.

Marsh said the Bedford County Development Association is offering support to the Saxton community for “whatever comes next.”