Press Release

ST. ROSE – The world’s largest men’s accessories company, Randa Corp., announced plans to locate their new headquarters office and distribution center to James Business Park in St. Charles Parish. The planned 165,000-square-foot, single-floor complex will be located on a 10-acre site in the business park.

“This new facility will be much more efficient than our current, multistory facility and will allow for future growth,” according to randa senior vice-president Randy Kennedy.

The present facility is at 966 S. White St. in New Orleans, near Howard Avenue. The decision to remain in the New Orleans area preserves 200 jobs in the economy and, Kennedy said, randa may add jobs at the new facility to meet market demands.

“Our business is extremely competitive and from time to time we evaluate our facilities in the light of future growth potential,” Kennedy noted.

Seven months of negotiations with St. Charles Parish’s economic development director, Corey Faucheux, capped the deal. Mississippi was extremely aggressive in its relocation package offer, Kennedy noted, but local and state officials in Louisiana made a clear statement that randa is a valued partner in the growth of Louisiana.

Randa worked closely with St. Charles Parish officials, including Parish President Albert Laque, the state Department of Economic Development, the MetroVision Economic Development Partnership, Entergy’s economic development division to evaluate sites in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes.

“Albert Laque and Corey Faucheux worked with us on a competitive package,” Kennedy said.

Louisiana kicked in an offer to qualify the plant for a 5 percent rebate of its payroll if its jobs pay 1 1/2 times more than the minimum wage of $7.73, and provide health insurance. The average randa salary is $8.50. The company’s payroll for 2001 was about $5 million, and Randa pays 90 percent of a employee’s health insurance.

For St. Charles Parish’s part, $9 million in industrial revenue bonds will be issued to build the distribution center, while randa’s lease payments to the parish will be used to retire the bonds. Randa will pay property taxes on the land for the span of the bond issue, either 10 or 20 years, but not the improvements.

Randa bought Wemco in 1997, which owns the Wembley tie brand, and also other labels under the Randa umbrella include Geoffrey Beene, Van Heusen, Claiborne, Dockers, Save the Children and Countess Mara.

The company’s annual revenue is about $200 million.