There is much jockeying going on with large corporations and sector shifts in Akron OH. This has effected many other sectors like retail and housing. Housing growth is strong in the suburbs around Akron, especially the North sides. During the last recession housing growth was fine, but urban flight hurt and when Rubbermaid moved to Atlanta to be by Home Depot their major customer, besides Wal-Mart type box stores took out many smaller businesses.

Things were already upset after the Firestone problem and HQ moving of B.F. Goodrich. But also the TRW move and the BP America merger caused the total large corporate job loss to reach 5000 jobs. BP America jobs were caused to exit the area and many simply cut in a savings of repetition with new partners, Chicago and Houston both took hits in that one as we recall. Luckily of the 5000 job loses and that is just the high paying 60K plus jobs, since then 5700 jobs were created most in growing retail sector.

Akron also saw another fortune 500 company to leave the area, Office Max when they were bought by Boise Cascade the paper company. This makes since because timber is an issue with Canadian import taxes on timber and old growth cutting restrictions in the Northwestern US, while Boise has planted tree farms in WA, OR and ID, which you can see along highways in Olympia area and on I-84 in Oregon. Boise was smart to diversify.

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