Vendo Co. laid off 180 workers in Fresno, Allegiant Air filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors and Montgomery Ward closed four Valley stores. Yet Fresno County and Tulare County retained their positions as No. 1 and No. 2 agricultural producers in the United States. If there was a down side to that, it was analysts' view that the Valley's reliance on a farm-based economy contributed to the region's high, ongoing unemployment levels. The region set its course for improvement keyed to broadening the economy and nurturing business development, including new ventures that take agriculture one step further by using locally grown crops and processing them into a higher value products.
Economists forecast long-term expansion tied to food processing.
Gap Inc. continued developing its mammoth distribution center in Fresno, starting a third phase that will expand it to about 1.8 million square feet and about 800 employees. Porterville-based Bank of the Sierra continued its impressive growth, acquiring four branches of Sierra National Bank in Tehachapi and announcing plans to add Taft National Bank of Kern County. With those additions, Bank of the Sierra grew from 12 to 16 branches and has plans for two more in early 2001. The raisin crop of 2000 eclipsed any year in recent decades, and that brought the prospect of a price plunge. The potential was enough to rouse more than 150 angry farmers in an October confrontation with packers and the Raisin Administrative Committee.