Spiegel Lays Off 95 in Telesales

Downers Grove, IL--Fresh off a 17% November sales decrease, multititle mailer The Spiegel Group laid off 95 workers from its 4,000-employee telesales unit. Spokesperson Allison Scherer says that holiday sales peaked Dec. 1-6 but then plunged after Dec. 10. That led to a reallocation of shifts, followed by the layoffs.

The layoffs affected workers in Spiegel’s facilities in Bothel, WA; Wichita, KS; Hampton, VA; and Rapid City, IA. The company’s Canadian facility, in St. John, New Brunswick, which opened last May, "is still building its associate base," Scherer says, so no layoffs occurred there.

Scherer says the Downers Grove, IL-based company anticipates rehiring most, if not all, of the laid-off employees in mid-January, once the business for the women’s apparel book Newport News picks up. Unlike Spiegel’s core book and its Eddie Bauer apparel catalog, Newport News’s sales typically peak in the spring. Spiegel hasn’t committed to rehiring the workers, however.