After more than a century of bottling sodas in Ventura, a historic Coca-Cola manufacturing plant is preparing to shut its doors for good.
Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling announced the Ventura facility will permanently close on July 10, ending a 114-year run in the city and impacting dozens of workers, according to company filings and published reports.
The closure will affect 85 employees, though the company said most workers are expected to be reassigned to other Southern California locations.
“We regularly assess our locations, products and services to ensure we can continue driving sustainable growth and innovation across our business,” a company spokesperson told SFGATE.
The shutdown marks the end of one of Ventura’s oldest industrial operations.
Coca-Cola first opened a bottling operation in Ventura in 1912, later relocating several times over the decades as the business expanded.
By the 1950s, local newspapers described Ventura’s soda bottling industry as booming, with Coca-Cola and Nehi plants capable of producing thousands of cases of soft drinks each day.
The Ventura closure appears to be part of a broader consolidation effort by Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, which has shuttered multiple California facilities in recent years.
Operations from the Ventura plant are expected to be transferred to other Southern California distribution centers.
The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN notice, with the state alerting officials to the upcoming closure and layoffs, according to the Los Angeles Times.
While many employees are expected to remain with the company through reassignment opportunities, the shutdown still represents the loss of a longstanding local landmark tied to Ventura’s industrial history.
The facility’s final day of operation is scheduled for July 10.
