Republic National Distributing could lay off 428 in Virginia

One of the country’s largest wholesale alcoholic beverage distributors is potentially laying off 428 employees in Ashland, part of a wider possible multistate workforce reduction tied to sales of operations in some markets.

According to a Thursday notice to the state sent to comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, Texas-based Republic National Distributing Co. could lay off 428 employees currently working at its facility at 14038 Washington Highway in Ashland.

The company expects to lay off any affected employees on or within 14 days of June 21. According to the notice, it “has on file a list of the job titles of positions expected to be terminated … and the number of affected employees in each job classification,” but the company did not include the list in its letter.

The potential layoffs would result from RNDC’s sale of multiple operations to Reyes Holdings’ Reyes Beverage Group unit. The companies announced March 20 they’d entered into purchase agreements for RBG to acquire RNDC’s operations in Virginia, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Washington, D.C.

The transaction could close “as early as the end of May,” according to a news release, and Reyes plans to run the businesses separately from its current operations. The acquisition would be RBG’s largest to date.

In its notice to the state, RNDC wrote: “The company understands that Reyes or its affiliate intends to extend offers of employment to many of the company’s employees at or reporting to the facilities included in the transaction, including the [Ashland] facility.”

Additionally, RNDC said it might continue to employ some corporate or other employees, including to provide transition services.

RNDC wrote that “there is no guarantee” that RBG will offer employment to the potentially affected employees, “as discussions remain ongoing,” and that RNDC doesn’t yet know who it will continue to employ.

Since RNDC expects to end operations at the facility, all terminations would be permanent, and the affected employees wouldn’t have bumping rights for other positions within the company.

Founded in 1996, RNDC is a privately-owned company that specializes in wine and spirits and currently has locations in more than 35 states. According to Forbes, it had 13,000 employees as of December 2025 and brought in $10.5 billion in 2025 revenue.

The company has had a string of lost business over the past year, with Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve maker Brown-Forman moving its California distribution to RBG in 2025, leading RNDC to exit the state. Proximo Spirits, the owner of Jose Cuervo, changed its distributor from RNDC in all but two states, according to January news reports.

In January, RNDC announced it’d finalized an agreement with “its lenders” to secure “significant additional financing.”

Reyes Beverage Group has more than 10,000 full-time employees and over 124,000 customers, as well as 55 facilities across the U.S. The company says it delivers 320 million cases annually.