UPS, DOWNS and OUTS

Vermont Business Magazine, Jan 01, 2004 by Barna, Ed

Like other states, Vermont has been battling to retain good jobs, especially in manufacturing. News reports have headlined plant closings, relocations, consolidations, acquisitions, clownsizings - and in some cases, concerted action by the state, regional and other officials that has avoided potential losses or strengthen companies. This article is an attempt at a statewide chronology of major developments in those areas, starting with the past three years. Its ultimate goal is to point up patterns, which may have been obscured by concerns about the effects of particular local and county developments.

Anyone with additional information is welcome to contact the author via gotobarn@sover.net. More detail can be found at www.vermontbiz.com

January 2001:

-The Champion company closed its Essex Junction facility and moved its 150 jobs to North Carolina.

- Springfield: The Goldman Group decided to close the 91-year-old Bryant Grinder plant, layoff 68 workers, and move 65 others to a sister operation, the Fellows Corp in North Springfield. At the same time, Fellows announced it would lay off 37 workers. The Group's total remaining workforce, about 250, was less than 10 percent of its total 20 years ago.

- Brandon: Vermont Tubbs Furniture, part of Carris Financial Holdinqs in Rutland, laid off 40 of its 258 workers.

February 2001:

- In Bennington, Hemmings Motor News laid off 18 of its 27 Internet-related workers.

March 2001:

- Quechee-based Simon Pearce, maker of glass and pottery, laid off 11 of its 122 Windsor employees.

April 2001:

- Morrisville-based Turtle Fur was sold to Richard Sontag, owner of Nordic Gear in Rye, NY.

June 2001:

- Mad River Canoe moved its Waitsfield operation to its corporate headquarters in North Carolina, affecting 22 Vermont jobs.

- Infineon, a German computer memory chip company opened a 19,000-square-foot, $10 million facility in Williston.

August 2001:

- New Orleans-based Entergy and the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation announced plans for Entergy to acquire the Vernon generating plant (510 megawatt, or about 500,000 homes) for $180 million.

- Autumn Harp of Bristol, a maker of natural lip care products begun in 1977, was sold to Shelburne businessman David Logan, of Back Bay Ventures, Inc.

September 2001:

- American Skiing Company sold the Sugarbush Resort in Warren to four local investors called Summit Ventures NE

- Three banks owned by Banknorth Group, Inc - the Howard Bank, First Vermont Bank and the Franklin Lamoille Bank said they would consolidate under the name Banknorth Vermont.

October 2001:

- The GS Blodgett Corp., owned by Maytag Corp, was sold to Middleby Corp of Elgin, Illinois, for $95 million.

December 2001: - IBM cut 500 employees, - The Bolton Valley Holiday Resort filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while reorganizing its debt.

- Fellows Corp and Bryant Grinder in North Springfield, laid off 20 more workers, bringing total employment to about 130.

January 2002:

- In Windsor, Cone Blanchard Corp laid off most of its workers, and said it would close if it could be sold to an Illinois firm.

February 2002:

- South Burlington's Lane Press said it would cut hours by 20 percent for 200 of its 400 employees, as a temporary step to avoid layoffs.

March 2002:

- Lionheart Technologies, the parent company of Bio-Tek Instruments in Winooski, sold about three-quarters of its operations to Fluke Corporation of Washington, They also owned DNI Nevada in Carson City and Dale Technologies in Westport, NY. Total company employment was expected to drop from 270 to about 160, with the lion's share of the job losses coming from outside Vermont. After 44 cuts in Winooski, Vermont would have about 150 of the remaining 160 jobs.

- In Bennington, Vermont Composites, Inc would undertake two 15,000-square-foot expansions, one by the end of the summer. The company said that the expansion would mean an additional 41 jobs by 2005.

April 2002:

- Hemmings Motor News in Bennington was sold to American City Business Journals, Inc of Charlotte, NC.

- After the American Skiing Company decided to sell Heavenly Ski Resort in California to alleviate its debt rather than Steamboat Springs in Colorado, Okemo Resort president Timothy Mueller was considering legal action against ASC for an allegedly inadequate payment in compensation for the lost sale.

- Dallas-based Dean Foods Co said it would shut down the Fairdale Farms milk plant in Bennington, moving those operations to another plant in East Greenbush, NY. About half of the 125 people affected were to be offered jobs at the new location.

- Child Travel Services of Colchester purchased Travel Network of South Burlington, part of a national trend brought on by declining air travel post 9-11 and increased use of Internet travel sites.

- The University of Vermont's Continuing Education Division cut 20 positions.

May 2002:

- Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc said it would close operations in Springfield and Bellows Falls, while boosting that division's St Albans plant with a $15 million expansion.