Bartow County's Lacey Mills rug plant to close by December

<p>The Lacey Mills plant in Bartow County is expected to close by December, after parent company Bacova Guild Ltd. said it would consolidate its bath rug manufacturing operations to plants in Virginia.</p><p>Bacova is a subsidiary of Ronile Inc. and is headquartered in Low Moor, Va.</p><p>The announcement was made Tuesday. Phillip Essig, chief executive officer of Bacova, said in a news release that the company was making a "substantial" capital investment to modernize its operations and decided Virginia was the best place to make the investment because of already existing operations and investments there.</p><p>The Bartow County plant employs 92 people. The company will have job openings in Virginia and officials expect a number of the employees will transfer to the Virginia plants.</p><p>"Our consolidation plan will enhance service to our customers," president Charlie Bowers said in a news release.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2de9f84)</p>