Jinxed

Burger Chef
Cornerstone Engineering and Surveying
Dawn Donuts
Flint Candy and Tobacco
Hamady Brothers
Helmac Products Corporation
Krogers (before it came back in the 1990’s):Remember Krogers pulled out of Flint when workers tried to unionize
Leisure Time Products
Mr Gibbys Inn & Restaurant
Save a Child Foundation
The Holiday Inn Downtown Flint
The Sheraton Motor Inn
The Voyager Inn
The Warwick Inn
Vehicle City Truck Works

You may be asking, “What do these companies have in common?” Well, they are all out of business. I have had the good fortune of being employed by every one of them! Yes, if you need your business to fail, just pick up the phone or e-mail me. I am willing and ready for the job!

Helmac is a little different. The company is still in business. However, it has changed names to The Evercare Company. In case you are not familiar with the original name, formerly Helmac is the world’s largest producers of lint rollers.

It was located in Flint, where Nick McKay, Sr. and his wife, Helen, started the company in 1958. Helmac blossomed from a family-run, garage/basement operation to a multi million dollar enterprise. In 1998, McKay, Sr. decided it was time to retire.

He then sold the company to his son, Nick McKay, Jr. and a consortium of investors. The elder McKay made a bundle. To announce this momentous switch of power, and his good fortune, he hosted a party at Flint's Gateway Holiday Inn. During the event, McKay, Sr. shared the wealth by giving every employee a bonus check. Being a supervisor paid off handsomely that day.

That afternoon, the new owners, along with the company executives, presented speeches concerning Helmac’s future. McKay, Jr. ended the program by fielding questions from employees.

Naturally, the only supervisor to ask a question was yours truly. The query posed was, “Nick are you and Helmac committed to staying in Flint?” Nick, Jr. assured me, as well as the other employees, that the answer was a definite yes! All to no avail, former Flint Mayor Woodrow Stanley had offered tax break opportunities of a lifetime for the continuation of this operation and the jobs it provided.

Three months later, Helmac announced it would be relocating all operations to Georgia, with manufacturing, shipping and receiving to be located in Waynesboro and corporate offices in Augusta (suppose someone desperately wanted to play Augusta National Golf Club).

It was revealed, after the fact, that the proper paperwork already had been signed to move the company, when I asked the committed to Flint question. Let’s play the old TV game show " Who do you trust"!

Please remember, if your business in on the verge in Genesee County, I can help push it over the edge.

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