CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (July 24, 2008) — The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® brought its nationwide pro-trade tour to Charlottesville with a stop at Crutchfield, whose 560 employees count on free trade for their livelihood.
CEA's pro-trade branded tour bus stopped Crutchfield's Distribution Center, where this year alone Crutchfield's 68 Distribution Center employees will process more than 950,000 outbound shipments. The bus is on a road trip that includes visits to the Republican and Democratic national conventions. The Crutchfield event is the only stop in Virginia.
The event included remarks by Bill Crutchfield, founder and CEO, and by Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the CEA. Mr. Shapiro is the most visible person in the $161 billion dollar consumer electronics industry. He has appeared on all the major news networks and recently debated Lou Dobbs on network television regarding free trade.
"CEA has devoted a tremendous amount of financial and intellectual resources to outfitting the tour bus, which cleverly displays the beneficial effect that free trade has on the consumer electronics industry," Mr. Crutchfield said. "That CEA has picked Charlottesville as its only stop in Virginia is a tremendous tribute to our community, Crutchfield Corporation and its 560 employees."
Nearly 370,000 Virginia jobs are driven by the Consumer Electronics sector, according to a CEA-PriceWaterhouseCoopers study. That is 8 percent of jobs in Virginia. The Consumer Electronics industry also contributes 8 percent of the total Virginia state economic activity – over thirty billion dollars of value added to the GDP, according to the study.
