After 50 years of operation in Micaville, it has been confirmed that the Hickory Springs innerspring mattress plant will close. In a telephone conversation with Darrell Bryant, Vice President of Human Resources for HSM, the parent company of Hickory Springs Manufacturing, on the morning of 17 February 2020, Yancey County Economic Development Director Jamie McMahan received formal confirmation from the company that the permanent closure of Hickory Springs’ Micaville facility in Yancey County would occur between April 23 and May 6, 2020.
Inquiries regarding the plant’s closure were received by the Yancey County Economic Development Commission the preceding week from members of the public. Prompted by those inquiries in an initial call to local plant management in Micaville on Friday, February 14 Yancey EDC Director Jamie McMahan asked whether plans for a closure of the facility had been announced. He was informed at that time that no plans had been announced but was also told that HSM’s corporate management had scheduled a meeting with employees at the facility to occur at 3:00 o’clock p.m. later that afternoon. McMahan made a follow-up telephone call to HSM VP Bryant on the morning of February 17 and was informed of the closure at that time with the explanation that HSM wanted to ensure that its workers had been notified of the decision to close the facility by the company directly prior to any formal public announcement being made.
