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It was a shock to hear about Wells Fargo & Co.’s decision to shut down its 638 Wells Fargo Financial stores across the country and eliminate as many as 1,000 positions in Des Moines in the next 12 months.

The company said it will try to move as many employees as possible to other Wells Fargo jobs, but a total of 3,800 jobs are being cut company-wide, and that’s too many people to absorb. A substantial number will wind up out of work, and our area could be hit hard.

An announcement like this reminds us of the risks inherent in relying too heavily on large companies. Wells Fargo is the largest private employer in Greater Des Moines, and has contributed to our renaissance by constructing its own office buildings in the past several years. It’s a key player.

We need the big companies, because there’s no way to support the Central Iowa economy on mom-and-pop outfits alone. But when a company the size of Wells Fargo gets the flu, the whole region runs a temperature.

We’re not criticizing the decision as a business move. Wells Fargo said fewer than 2 percent of its real estate loans were originated in Wells Fargo Financial stores in the first quarter of 2010, and the same products will remain available through the network it acquired by merging with Wachovia Corp. two years ago. It’s all about efficiency.

The move will cost millions, but the San Francisco-based company expects operating savings to make up for that loss in 18 months.

So all we can do is dust ourselves off and redouble our efforts to add jobs and fill office space. As the economy picks up, Greater Des Moines is certainly in a good position to prosper. Honors and other mentions in important business news outlets have raised our image, and now is the time to cash in.

We need to land new businesses, both large and small. It’s just that we need to do an even better job of it than we thought a week ago.