Morgan Finke
Published: February 11, 2009

DUBUQUE - “Store closing”, “Blowout sale”, “Everything must go!” Signs like these are making appearances around Dubuque and across the country.

With Office Depot closing 112 of its stores nationwide, employees are left wondering what comes next

Ken Borzym, manager of Office Depot in Dubuque has a lot to consider,”I’ve been with the company for fourteen years and I got the severance package as well but I’d have to move myself to Pewaukee, Wisconsin.”

Right across the highway, Starbucks already closed their doors.

Employee Casey Kettmann at the Starbucks in Hy Vee explained the recent downsize, “A week or so ago they announced they were going to close more stores and get rid of 1000 employees which is a big number.”

But Rick Dickinson recognizes that the economic news in Dubuque isn’t all dreary. “The 1300 employees will only account for two percent of the population but it will have a big effect on the makeup of Dubuque and the way Dubuque is perceived,” said Dickinson.

Even though that is a nice boost, it is going to take time to see the difference.

“In fact IBM hasn’t hired any employees yet and it takes some time for a new company to ramp up even though it’s an accelerated time table for IBM,” Rick went on to explain.

In the meantime, Dubuque’s workforce is keeping its chin up.

From Kettmann’s perspective, we have a lot to be thankful for, “From what I’ve seen there have been some layoffs with Flexsteel and other companies like that but overall Dubuque has done very good in this rough time even compared to surrounding cities.”

Morgan Finke can be reached at Morgan.Finke@loras.edu