300 applicants for 30 jobs

Anderson's new Rite Aid store, which is scheduled to open Oct. 5, drew 300 applicants to a one-day job fair. The line of job seekers for 30 temporary positions stretched the length of the building along McMurry Drive.

Of those temporarary workers to be hired from September through October, only five will eventually be selected for permanent positions, store associate Amanda Buchanan predicted.

In-Home Support Services providers, construction workers and even a few business owners were among the applicants, according to two Rite Aid managers who conducted the initial screening interviews. The applicants ranged in age from 20 to 50 with no noticeable majority, the managers noted.

"That's a scary indicator for our economy," Anderson Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Irish Robertson said. "So many people are going out of business and losing jobs" because unemployment in the Redding metropolitan area has held at 15 percent since January 2009.