Foster told the state it will permanently close its Lowery Street produce distribution center March 5, 2027, affecting 169 workers, two years after the city approved incentives.

Foster, the fresh produce distributor that moved into a Lowery Street warehouse in 2025, plans to close the Winston-Salem center for good. The closing will affect 169 workers.

The company filed a layoff notice with the state Wednesday, Oct. 21. The N.C. Department of Commerce posted it in its 2026 WARN notice list, updated Oct. 23. The notice lists the closing as permanent, effective March 5, 2027.

What the state record shows

The Commerce Department’s WARN summary file lists two Foster sites under the same notice number, 202600057:

Location County Workers affected Type Effective
2900 Lowery St., Winston-Salem Forsyth 169 Closure, permanent March 5, 2027
1060 Taylors Creek Drive, Greenville Pitt 12 Closure, permanent March 5, 2027

Greenville is in eastern North Carolina. The Lowery Street site is about three miles east of downtown Winston-Salem.

The notice does not give a reason for the closing. Foster has not posted a statement about it on its website as of Saturday.

The federal WARN Act generally requires employers with 100 or more workers to give 60 days’ notice of a plant closing. Foster’s notice gives about four and a half months.

A short stay on Lowery Street

The closing comes about two years after the city backed the move.

In September 2024, the City Council approved up to $86,550 in incentives for a project code-named Project Kohlrabi. The city’s action request form described a fresh produce distributor looking for more cold storage. The company was also weighing sites elsewhere in North Carolina and in South Carolina.

Foster later named itself as the company. In an April 2026 post, it called the training program it launched that month “the culmination of the vision established during Foster’s initial ‘Project Kohlrabi’ expansion.”

The council’s resolution, approved Sept. 3, 2024, set out what the project promised:

  • about $6.25 million in real and personal property
  • 140 jobs moved to Winston-Salem and 165 new jobs, 305 in all, over three years
  • an average annual salary of $51,369

The money was performance-based. It was set at half of the new property taxes the project was expected to generate, paid each year after the company paid its tax bill. The project analysis form said Forsyth County and the state were also considering incentives. The records we reviewed do not show whether any payment has been made.

What Foster said this year

Foster has described the Lowery Street building as its headquarters. Its About Us page calls it a “165,000 sq foot multi-temperature headquarters in Winston-Salem.”

In March, Foster announced that Westfalia Fruit had opened an avocado ripening and distribution center in Winston-Salem in partnership with Foster, according to the company’s post.

In April, Foster said it had launched a $256,305 training program with Forsyth Technical Community College, paid for through the state’s NC Edge customized training program. The company said then that it had 235 workers and planned 35 to 58 new full-time jobs over three years.

What it means for you

  • If you work at Foster on Lowery Street: the state record gives March 5, 2027, as the effective date. Ask your employer whether your job is covered and when your last day is.
  • Unemployment benefits: claims are filed with the N.C. Division of Employment Security. You can file once your job ends.
  • Local jobs picture: Winston-Salem’s unemployment rate and recent trends are on our August jobs report page.