In the News: First Quarter 2025

This post contains items we have found in Arizona news websites and economic development releases where there are job figures recorded. It also includes items from the Arizona Job Connection Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification Act (WARN) search. While this list is not a complete description of activity during the last quarter, it does provide insight into current developments that affect Arizona’s employment base. Detailed information on individual announcements is available on the Reports and Presentations page (scroll to the bottom of the page). Graphs summarizing overall trends for Arizona, Phoenix, and Tucson are below.

3D Barrier Bags plans to add 30 workers to its new manufacturing facility in Chandler. The company makes moisture barrier bags designed to protect machinery and equipment used in aerospace, defense, and electronics industries. Logisticus Group LLC leased space in Glendale to support clients in Arizona (no job numbers were available). Mountain America Credit Union opened a branch in Mesa late last year with eight employees. The Utah-based credit union has 10 branches in Arizona and plans to double that number in the next 18 months.  Nucleus RadioPharma is building a manufacturing facility in Mesa that will employ 50 when operational, which should happen by mid-2026. Mac.Bid is an online auction house for returned and overstock merchandise from well-known retailers and it opened locations in Mesa and Phoenix, each with about 50 employees. Target announced it was opening locations in Queen Creek and Surprise, though no word on the timeline. Previous reports indicate that the retailer typically employs around 200 per store. Midwestern restaurant chain Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream is opening a location in Surprise sometime in the second or third quarter of this year and will employ about 50. Toymaker Lego Group expects to have a customer service center open in Tempe by August. Arkansas-based 7 Brew drive-thru coffee chain signed a franchise agreement for the Phoenix market that is expected to bring multiple locations and up to 4,700 employees. 

Amazon opened three warehouses in the Valley last fall – Glendale, Goodyear, and Buckeye. The Goodyear location was in last quarter’s report stating it would have 500 employees, however, new information suggests that each location will have up to 2,000 workers. Pharmaceutical manufacturer Precision Science leased space at the Mack Innovation Park and will add between 80 and 100 new employees thanks to the expanded location. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. opened a customer support service center that will employ 100 at the Mesa Gateway Airport where it already operates a maintenance facility. Meade Engineering Inc. is moving its headquarters to an office in Scottsdale by the end of this year. The company currently has 58 employees, 30 of which are in the Valley and intends to continue hiring. Norwegian software company Cognite is moving its headquarters from Oslo to Tempe, bringing its management team along with finance, human resources, IT, and consulting teams, though no word on the total number of people. 

Boeing is cutting its global workforce by 10%, resulting in the loss of 184 jobs in Mesa. Those laid off left in mid-January. Macy’s announced it was closing a location in Mesa as part of a larger plan to shutter 150 locations nationwide. The date for the closure was not mentioned, nor employment figures, though based on other local store closures, the number would be around 100. Albertsons/Safeway reported that it was cutting 255 administrative jobs in Phoenix this spring. Transportation firm Mountain Valley Express, LLC filed a WARN notice in November indicating 20 layoffs in Phoenix. Nikola Corp. laid off 135 employees in Phoenix last October and an unspecified total number between October and December. Microchip Technology is closing the Temp Fab 2 plant sometime between July and September, affecting about 500 employees. General Parts Distribution LLC listed a WARN notice for Maricopa County showing 148 jobs lost. 

Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream is opening a location in Oro Valley this summer. The Midwestern chain is also opening a location in Surprise with 50 employees, so the Oro Valley location may have a similar number of workers. The Pascua Yaqui tribe broke ground on the Casino Del Sol – Grant Road in January. The casino is expected to take about 18 months to build and will employ around 1,000 people when it opens sometime in 2026.  Eegee’s closed five restaurants at the end of 2024, four in Tucson and one in Phoenix as the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. No job numbers were listed as employees will likely be transferred to other locations. 

Chlorum Solutions USA LLC is expected to create 40 jobs at a new Casa Grande chemical production plant. It will be the company’s first small-scale chlor-alkali plant in the U.S. Pure Wafer announced in November that it is expanding its production in Prescott, adding 30% to its existing headcount of 80 over the next two years. 

Family services clinic Milemarkers closed its Bullhead City and Kingman locations in November. The company reported to the state that 26 jobs were lost. True Value submitted a WARN notice in late October for its Kingman warehouse posting a loss of 62 jobs. The hardware chain’s distribution centers across the U.S. are set for layoffs and closures as the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy last fall. The Cholla Power Plant notified the state that it was letting go of 10 people in Navajo County. Medical supply company Medline Industries reported to the state that it was laying off 18 employees in Yuma. General Motors Desert Proving Grounds let go of 33 employees in Yuma last fall.