Weehawken, NJ-based multititle mailer Hanover Direct has laid off approximately 100 employees, including workers in its Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Wisconsin offices, according to published reports.
Most of the layoffs at Hanover Direct, a privately held company since merging with investor Chelsey Direct last year, came from the company’s distribution center in Virginia, according to The Evening (PA) Sun. “We are experiencing some economic softness throughout the company,” Hanover president/CEO Wayne Garten said.
Calls to Garten were not returned by press time. The $415.7 million Hanover mailed 182 million catalogs in 2006. Its titles include linens and home goods merchants Company Store, Company Kids, and Domestications, and apparel books Silhouettes, International Male, and Undergear.
Garten told the York (PA) Daily Record that Hanover Direct had expected this year to be more difficult, and adjusted its mailing patterns and personnel for planning purposes. The layoffs are more of a reaction to the company’s perception that the economy has worsened, he said.
If the economy improves, some of Hanover’s laid-off workers could return to their jobs, particularly those in the call center. The contact center positions, Garten noted, are “volume-related.”