Industry and Economy
Tillsonburg serves a regional tri-county area of 225,000 people at the confluence of Oxford, Elgin and Norfolk counties. The industrial base has become quite diverse during the decline of the once prominent tobacco industry. The area is home to several branch plants of major US-based automotive suppliers including Rieter Automotive, Guardian Industries, TRW - 2 plants, and Johnson Controls. There are many service-related industries and home-grown success stories including Verspeeten Transport, Marwood Metal Fabrication Ltd., Otter Valley Foods, E & E McLauglin Ltd., J/E Bearing Ltd., Fleetwood Metal Products, and MIL-SIM-FX International Inc.
The town has a very active and developing downtown core area which includes the Tillsonburg Town Centre mall, built in 1980 and the recently opened big box stores including Canadian Tire, Shopper's Drug Mart and Staples-Business Depot. Newly expanded The Source store and Mark's Work Wearhouse are located in the Tillsonburg Town Centre Mall.
All of the major Canadian chartered banks have branches in the town and there is also a Credit Union.
The town is served by three grocery stores: Sobey's, Zehrs and Metro.
Tillsonburg is served by three radio stations; The New Country 107.3 (107.3 CJDL FM), Country 1510 (1510 CKOT AM), Easy 101 (101.3 CKOT FM) and two newspapers; The Tillsonburg News and The Tillsonburg Independent.
The town has been positively impacted by the CAMI plant in Ingersoll, 22 kilometres north of the town, which opened in 1986. The CAMI plant, owned by General Motors of Detroit, Michigan, produces the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain CUVs.
The announcement of a new Toyota plant in Woodstock, 30 km northeast of Tillsonburg, will have a similarly positive impact on the development of Tillsonburg. In preparation for the increased traffic demands in the County of Oxford, Highway 19 has been upgraded and completely rebuilt north of the town to Highway #401.
The area also has a strong agricultural community with cash crops, hog farming, milk production, tobacco, ginseng and various tertiary crops.
The town has recently become a hub for regional operations of the Ontario Provincial Police including Oxford County Division Headquarters and also the Southwestern Ontario Forensics laboratory which opened in April 2008.
The town is the 3rd fastest growing community in Oxford County, and ranks as one of the top places to live in Canada.
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