Just two years after launching the effort, Woolrich plans to cease production of its bottled spring water business to better focus on its core businesses.
Woolrich President Jim Griggs told The Express in Lock Haven, PA, “We dont feel it is in our best interest to put the financial resources into continuing to grow that business.
In spite of the Woolrich bottled water business showing an increase in sales each year, it became clear that we would need to place far more time and resources into growing the operation than we felt the company should invest at this time.”
The company began producing its bottled water in 2005, having converted a warehouse-distribution center a few hundred feet from the companys woolen mill to bottle water from Chatham Run springs. At that time, the company said it had a capacity of 160,000 bottles of water a day over an eight-hour shift.
“We feel we were successful…but to stay in a very competitive market, wed have to put substantial resources into the bottled water business,” Griggs told the paper. “We just didnt feel that it had the synergy of our other units and we need to focus our resources on those divisions.”
Six employees will lose their jobs due to the shutdown.
