Deluxe Corp. closing in Streetsboro, but city not concerned

Deluxe Corporation in Streetsboro is set to shut its doors Feb. 29, but city leaders say the financial fallout should be minimal.

Deluxe had 71 full time employees in August, when the check printing company announced it would be closing. Compare that with the 190 employees the company had when it started in 1995, Streetsboro Economic Development Patrick O’Malia said.

Though Streetsboro realized between $60,000 and $70,000 of income tax revenue from Deluxe in 2022, the company does not have an active tax abatement agreement. And since the county auditor does not base property tax assessments on whether a building is full or vacant, Deluxe’s closure will not affect city schools, he added.

The city is already negotiating with an unnamed potential tenant who may choose to occupy Deluxe’s soon-to-be former home.

If those talks are successful, “it will be a bigger income tax contributor,” O’Malia said.
Deluxe Corp’s decision to close was a simple business decision, he said.

“The Streetsboro facility only focused on printing business checks. The demand for this product has been in steady decline with technological improvements. The parent company decided to allocate the limited demand that existed for business check printing to several other plants instead of having a payroll exclusively for this segment of business,” O’Malia said.

According to an August 2023 WARN letter the company filed with the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, Deluxe’s employment terminations began on Oct. 31 of that year and would continue until the last day of operations.

Each employee would be given at least a 60-day written notice of his or her layoff date, the letter stated.

Deluxe hosted an on-site job fair for its remaining employees, who visited with representatives from Viking Forge, Step2, Cleveland Steel Container, Permco, Aurora Plastics and other local employers, O’Malia said.

“The only reason I can think of for someone to not leave early is a very generous separation package. If they stay till their final day, it is a decent sized check. All employers who attended the job fair understood this and made offers based on this reality,” O’Malia said.