CitizensVoice reports that Dave Valenti, owner of Wyoming Homes, says sales are up in Plains Township, so he is expanding and adding 10 new employees, including truck drivers, sales people and laborers. Valenti also plans to open another sales location and a warehouse center on outside Pottsville in early 2012 that will add another 15 jobs. “We had seven stores at one time. We’re down to one,” Valenti said. “Although we have downsized, there are less dealers now than there were two years ago. Most of our competitors are gone. We are doing better by default.” Mary Gaiski, executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Manufactured Housing Association, could not provide a number of how many manufactured homes retailers in the area have closed, but she said, “We haven’t lost as many as other states.” Valenti, 58, of Moosic, has been in the manufactured home business since he was 18 and ran Wyoming Homes since he was 21. Venenti’s son, Marco, 18, now works with him. Among the locations previously closed, Valenti operated a manufactured home community and sales center in Exeter that is now the planned location for a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
