AB&C Group, The Paragon Shut Down Mar 16, 2008 11:00 PM
, By Melissa Dowling
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It appears multititle mailer BlueSky Brands did not get the financing it was desperately seeking.
According to The Journal in Martinsburg, WV, BlueSky’s national fulfillment center AB&C Group was shuttered on Friday, putting about 200 people out of work. A former AB&C employee tells MULTICHANNEL MERCHANT via e-mail that the entire plant was called together 2:30 p.m. on Friday and told that they didn't have paychecks but they would be available on Saturday morning.
At the end of the day supervisors told employees to take home any personal belongings and to call in on Monday to see if they would be needed, the former employee said. AB&C workers were eventually told that the company had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but this could not be confirmed. According to reports, employees were not paid on Saturday, and many have not been paid in at least three weeks.
The fate of AB&C’s clients is not clear, but The Journal story says that two clients, Healthy Directions and Bra Smyth, were scheduled to pull out of AB&C this week.
Meanwhile, the Website of New London, CT-based The Day, reports that The Paragon catalog closed the doors Friday afternoon at its North Kingstown, R.I., headquarters and shut down its Westerly call center two weeks ahead of schedule. The Westerly operations had been slated to be moved by March 31
to AB&C's Martinsburg facility.
It is not yet clear what has happened to BlueSky Brands’ other catalogs—Bits and Pieces, Bits and Pieces U.K., National Wildlife Direct, and Wintherthur—but it certainly appears they are all out of commission. The Bits and Pieces Website had a message saying “Our site is temporarily unavailable due to routine maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
National Wildlife’s message was a bit bleaker: “Our store is currently closed and we are unable to process your order at this time. Please check back later for updates. Thank you.”
