Catalog printer Spencer Press announced today it is shutting down for good and laying off all workers. Company officials told employees the layoffs will be staggered; Spencer Press is expected to close down completely by mid-June.
What happened? Doug Fitzgerald, the executive vice president of corporate communications for the printer’s parent company, Chicago-based R.R. Donnelley, said in a release: “The closure is strictly a function of the impacts of this unprecedented economic environment and will affect all 370 employees.”
Founded nearly 70 years ago near Boston, Spencer Press moved to Maine in the early 1980s and is considered the largest employer in Wells, ME. The company said employees will be offered severance packages that include subsidized health coverage.
R.R. Donnelley acquired Spencer Press in late 2005. A catalog-printing expert, Spencer also prints press-pasted booklets, freestanding inserts and self-mailers.
Also, R.R. Donnelley has notified the 118 employees of its Hillside, IL printing facility that the plant will be permanently shuttered. The closure plan is in response to the “unprecedented economic times” that continue to take a toll on Donnelley’s financial results. Hillside employees will receive severance packages.