The parent company of Sportsman’s Guide announced Monday that the South St. Paul distribution facility will close, eliminating the positions of 57 employees.

Crecera Brands, the parent company behind Sportsman’s Guide, The Golf Warehouse and BaseballSavings.com, has decided to consolidate its distribution center operations to a single facility in Greenfield, Ind., prompting the closure of the facility at 411 Farwell Ave., according to a notice sent to Minnesota’s State Rapid Response Team.

Now an online retailer of hunting and fishing gear, ammunition and outdoor sporting goods, Sportsman’s Guide put out its first catalogue in 1976.

Scott Williams, chief human resources officer for Sportsman’s Guide, said the Indiana was chosen due to its proximity to Indianapolis, which is 25 miles to the west, and other distribution centers.

The closure, which is anticipated for July 18, will affect five salaried and 52 hourly employees, according to a news release from the state. “The employees being affected by this layoff and closure are not represented by a union,” the release states. “There are no trade implications at this time.”

The company expects 109 employees not affiliated with the distribution center to continue working in Minnesota. Those employees hold positions in marketing, merchandising, finance, human resources, information technology, import compliance and customer experience, Williams said.

“We are currently negotiating a lease for a new corporate headquarters location in the Twin Cities and anticipate moving during the fourth quarter of 2025,” Williams said. While he couldn’t reveal where the potential new headquarters will be, Williams did confirm the company will be leaving South St. Paul, adding that the city’s mayor and city council “have been good to us.”

South St. Paul Mayor Jimmy Francis said, “It’s a sad day in South St. Paul when we lose a business that’s been here so long.”

The city had been working with Sportsman’s Guide for “many years to see how we could accommodate them to stay here,” Francis said.

“It’s a big loss, but being the optimist I am, it’s opening up something for somebody else and it really is an attractive location,” Francis said. “It leaves a void but it also has opportunity.”

“Employees opting not to relocate are eligible in a generous severance and retention program,” the company said in its notice.

— Mars King

Job openings indicate healthy market

Employers posted 7.6 million job openings in February, a sign that the job market is slowing but remains healthy. Layoffs of federal workers hit the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic slammed the economy in 2020, as Elon Musk’s job cuts start to show up in national jobs data.

The number of vacancies fell slightly from a revised 7.8 million in January and from a 8.4 million a year earlier, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. Openings have come down more or less steadily since peaking at 12.1 million in March 2022 when the economy was still roaring back from COVID-19 lockdowns.

Layoffs rose to 1.8 million in February from 1.7 million in January. Federal agencies laid off 18,000 workers, most since October 2020. Retailers, cautious about the outlook for 2025, laid off 238,000 in February, highest figure since April 2020 in the depths of the COVID-19 recession.

The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, showed that the overall number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence they can find better pay or working conditions elsewhere — fell slightly in February.

U.S. auto sales rise, in advance of tariffs

The major car companies say sales rose sharply in March, with most reporting double-digit gains. For some companies, the strong performance last month helped make up for a sluggish start to the year.

Automakers sold nearly 1.6 million vehicles in the U.S. in March, up 13.6%. That brought total sales for the first quarter to more than 3.9 million vehicles, Motorintelligence.com said Tuesday. Almost all automakers saw a surge in sales of electric vehicles.

What future months hold for the automakers is uncertain. President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on auto imports that go into effect on April 3. The tariffs are set to expand to applicable auto parts in the following weeks, through May 3. The tax hike means automakers could face higher costs and lower sales, though Trump argues the tariffs will lead to factories opening in the U.S.

— From news services