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EDEN — Now that the punch of losing yet another textile business has sunk in, it’s time for Rockingham County to pause and regroup, said Graham Pervier, president of the Rockingham County Partnership for Economic and Tourism Development.

On Wednesday, Hanesbrands announced it was closing nine plants in five countries. In Eden, 720 jobs will be lost when the company shuts down its knit-fabric and yarn plants.

Pervier said Thursday he plans to have officials with the N.C. Department of Commerce review the county’s economic development work plan.

But he cautioned against any quick cure for the county’s woes, citing the dire economic state of the entire country.

“Layoffs are dramatic and sudden and painful,” Pervier said, “and economic development is slow, patient business.”

Gov. Mike Easley said Thursday he is sending a rapid response team from the state Department of Commerce to the area.

“I have directed the Rapid Response Team to work with Hanesbrands and local employment partners to help these workers begin the process to either find new jobs or receive additional training so they can remain successful in our competitive economy,” Easley said in a news release.

The Commerce Department’s work force development division has spoken with Hanesbrands officials to determine what services the affected employees will need, the news release said. The first meeting is planned for next week.

The team will include members of the local work force development board, the Employment Security Commission and Rockingham Community College.

State Rep. Nelson Cole, D-Rockingham, said Wednesday that he hoped state commerce officials would intervene and salvage some of the jobs.

But Pervier said he was less optimistic about that, given that Hanesbrands’ reorganization strategy is a corporate one and not just focused on the Eden plant.

The Hanesbrands plant on Gant Road is outside the Eden city limits, close to the North Carolina-Virginia border. Pervier said he believed most of the plant’s employees live in Virginia.

He said Rockingham County has become less dependent on textiles and tobacco in recent years.

“The county has been real successful in the past five years in terms of new investment and new jobs,” Pervier said, adding that Rockingham County has averaged $60 million in new manufacturing investments and about 500 new manufacturing jobs each year for the past five years.

Pervier said Hanesbrands was not one of the county’s top 10 payers in property taxes.

Mike Apple, Rockingham County’s finance director, said Hanesbrands’ real property was valued at about $14.5 million. The amount in taxes the county collects should remain about the same unless the buildings are demolished or revalued, Apple said. The company’s business personal property is valued at about $14.9 million, he said.

Eden Mayor John Grogan said Wednesday that Hanesbrands was one of the city’s largest water and sewer customers.

Eden City Manager Brad Corcoran did not return calls seeking more information about what the company pays for those services.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com