News-Record.com

HOMETOWN, Pa. — The company that makes products under the Hanes, Champion, Playtex and Bali names is closing two distribution centers in eastern Pennsylvania.

Hanesbrands Inc. of Winston-Salem says it is reorganizing its distribution system. Two facilities near Hometown in Schuylkill County will be closed in early 2009.

The closures will mean the loss of 155 jobs. Hanesbrands says it will give workers severance benefits and help them find new jobs.

The work done at the two facilities will be transferred to North Carolina and Virginia.

The Winston-Salem Journal reported that the company's Almondridge Road distribution center in Rural Hall will gain the thermal and underwear distribution operations from the two Pennsylvania centers. But part of the facility's current distribution will be transferred to a new center to open late this year in Perris, Calif. At 1.3 million square feet, that facility will be Hanesbrands' largest and will handle burgeoning trade from Asia.

The Virginia Service Center in Martinsville, Va., also will receive work from the closed Pennsylvania plant. A company spokesman said neither the Martinsville nor Rural Hall will expand or add jobs.

The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa., said the closings will not affect a 182,000-square-feet distribution center that Hanes' parent company, Sara Lee, is building near Minersville, Pa.

That facility will employ 123 people and distribute food throughout the Northeast, Hanesbrands was spun off from food maker Sara Lee Corp. in 2006. The company has about 3,400 employees in Forsyth County and nearly 6,400 workers total in North Carolina.

The Associated Press and the Winston-Salem Journal contributed to this report.