By Mike Barnhardt
Enterprise Record

Jim VanderGiessen Jr. had all but decided that his family’s company was building a new plant in Hickory.
The chief executive officer of Pro Refrigeration had looked in Virginia and elsewhere in North Carolina. He was ready to sign the deal for a site in Hickory.
Then via a friend of a friend at Foothills Brewery in Winston-Salem, he was introduced to Terry Bralley, president of the Davie County Economic Development Council. Bralley showed him a site, but a deal couldn’t be reached.
He headed back to Hickory. But Bralley was persistent.
“We ended up with a building not even on the market,” VanderGiessen said. “He basically made it available for us.”
Pro Refrigeration is already working on the old Crown Wood building at Bethel Church and John Crotts roads. They hope to start production next month, and have products coming out of the new site by summer.
“What Terry has said, he has delivered,” VanderGiessen said. “This just felt like the right place. The small town was nice, and the  community here has been very accommodating …