True Value hardware stores are, and have been, an American institution. They are scattered across the land, often run as small mom and pop shops; our tiny hardware store just up the road here in the Susitna Valley is a True Value. They're everywhere.
And, for almost 80 years, they have maintained a primary company headquarters in Chicago. No longer. Now they are fleeing for greener pastures, and those more verdant habitats are right next door, in Indiana, a much lower-tax and more business-friendly environment.
Illinois state Sen. Chris Balkema said True Value’s decision to move its headquarters from Chicago to Fort Wayne, Indiana, is another example of businesses seeking relief from what he described as Illinois’ costly regulatory and tax environment.
True Value, which had maintained a Chicago headquarters for 78 years, announced plans to relocate after being acquired by Indiana-based Do it Best Group. The companies said the move would bring their operations together under one headquarters location.
Now, some (in Illinois) will point this out as simply combining headquarters after an acquisition, which isn't at all uncommon. But Sen. Chris Balkema isn't buying it.
Balkema, R-Channahon, said the relocation shows Illinois needs to rethink its approach to economic policy.“I’m happy that that is occurring, but I also understand it,” Balkema said. “As I tour businesses throughout the district and the state, the top two things that businesses fear about Illinois and need help in is rules and regulations is absolutely the number one.”
Balkema also pointed to energy policy as a major concern for businesses, specifically citing the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which sets a goal for Illinois to transition to carbon-free electricity by 2045.
“The CEJA Act that requires all gas and coal-fired power plants to be shut down 19 short years from now, which means people start scaling back sooner and not doing overhauls, is absolutely having a dramatic effect,” he said.
To put it simply, True Value is splitting, because the regulatory environment, not to mention taxes, in Indiana is much more attractive.
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The fact is that this is a primary driver of the Great Sorting. So many Democrat-controlled states are seemingly doing everything they can to drive business investment and employment out of their states, and Illinois is for sure and for certain among that number. It's a weird kind of governmental suicide, almost; businesses and entrepreneurs are heading to red states over blue ones, and it's accelerating.
It's not just the businesses themselves and their tax revenues that are leaving. The people who work in the current True Value headquarters, or at least the ones that are being retained, now have a choice: Stay in the Chicago area, with its high taxes and crime rate, or move to smaller, more affordable Fort Wayne, Indiana. That might be more appealing, since Fort Wayne has never had a Mayor Pete Buttigieg screwing up the roads with his inattention.
Sadly, this exodus will probably continue until Chicago voters figure out what's causing it - and bear in mind, the people who may well understand this are the ones who are leaving.
And thus, the Great Sorting continues.
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