Industries

Building Materials
Food Processing
Agriculture
Back Office
Innovation & Technology
Outdoor Recreation

Building Materials

Wilkes County’s building materials industry is thriving in part because of the natural resources of this area. Abundant timber, rock, and water influenced the way early pioneers survived and earned a living. A local hardware store grew into what is the nation’s second largest home improvement retailer, Lowe’s Companies.

Its growth attracted other building products companies, such as doors, windows and glass, to establish in Wilkes County, creating a local pool of interrelated companies rich in knowledge about building materials and structures.

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Food Processing

Wilkes County’s agricultural heritage has contributed to the development and growth of the local food processing industry, which includes 98,800,000 chickens processed annually and $17.5 million in country ham sales. Wineries, distilleries and breweries have recently entered the food processing industry. In 2015, the sale of botanicals joined the local industry.

Moderate elevations and proximity to the Yadkin River and the mineral-rich soil of the Brushy Mountains allow a variety of grapes to thrive in this area. Wilkes County is part of two federally approved American Viticulture Areas, the Yadkin Valley AVA and the Swan Creek AVA, and is home to five wineries, which contribute to North Carolina’s $1.97 billion wine and grape industry.

Once known as the “Moonshine Capital of the World,” Wilkes County is now home to three legal distilleries, Call Family Distillers, Copper Barrel Distillery and American Alcohollery. Craft beer brewing is also making its way into the county at TwoBoros Brewery.

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Agriculture

Of North Carolina’s 100 counties, Wilkes County ranks:

  • #2 in the production of poultry broilers,
  • #3 in the production of beef cattle,
  • #4 in all cattle and milk cows,
  • #6 in the production of hay, and
  • #10 in the production of poultry layers.

These rankings make Wilkes County the state’s seventh largest county in agriculture cash receipts totaling $287,429,836 (2019 data).

The agricultural impact on the county is around $551 million, making up 36 percent of the county’s GDP and providing 22 percent of the county’s jobs. With an abundant water supply from both local rivers, the 421 Expressway, and a rich history of entrepreneurial growth, it is well positioned as an experienced agricultural producer and processor.

64M

broilers

31.5k

heads of cattle

932

farms

20.2k

acres of hay

Employers in this Industry

Back Office

Back office functions of a company support the work of front office employees, who are typically working directly with the consumers or clients. Wilkes County has a skilled and dependable workforce that provides back office support, such as administrative, customer service, installation, accounting, management and logistics to large organizations.

Two examples of local back office centers are Lowe’s Companies and Samaritan’s Purse. Lowe’s Contact Center in Wilkesboro employs 1,500+ and provides worldwide customer support. Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization, has a warehouse and several office buildings in Wilkes County where it stores disaster relief supplies, maintains its disaster response units, provides training, and operates volunteer services and other departments. Samaritan’s Purse employs at least 330+ and is expanding its operations in Wilkes County.

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Innovation & Technology

Wilkes County has multiple high speed broadband connection options. Wide availability of fiber has a correlation with fast broadband Internet and increased bandwidth. Unsurprisingly, Wilkes County’s average speeds outperform the state weighted average by 14.08%.

Any individual, entrepreneur or company can come to Wilkes County and connect with businesses anywhere in the world due to the fiber optic network that is accessible throughout the county. This is allowing remote access and bringing innovation to our rural county such as cybersecurity.

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Outdoor Recreation

Wilkes County is a haven for outdoor recreation enthusiasts, offering a wide array of activities: fly fishing, hunting, archery, kayaking, boating, tubing, skiing, disc golf, mountain biking, paragliding, golfing, horseback riding, hiking, rock climbing and more. This gives many opportunities to businesses that support these activities and enhances the quality of life for locals and tourists alike.

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