Headlines

Signet to Close Manufacturing Plant, Lay Off 122

The jobs will be cut by May 24.

Published

5 years ago

April 2, 2019

INSTORE Staff

Signet Jewelers Ltd. plans to close a manufacturing plant in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The closure will mean the loss of 122 jobs, the Dallas Business Journal reports.

“We have evaluated consolidation in key areas of our business, seeking to understand production capacity, cost and efficiency across our operations and distribution,” David Bouffard, Signet’s vice president for corporate affairs, told the publication.

The north Texas employees will be laid off by May 24. Operations will be transferred to existing locations in Akron, OH, according to the Dallas Business Journal.

However, Signet continues to maintain operations in north Texas, where it has more than 700 employees.

In February, media reports said Signet was making buyout offers to 2,600 employees in Fairlawn, OH, and 800 in Dallas as part of a cost-cutting effort.

Employees of the company’s stores, which operate under the Kay, Zales, Jared and Piercing Pagoda brands, were reportedly not eligible for the program.

Bouffard said at the time that the headcount reductions were designed “to fund the critical investments we need in our transformation plan,” according to Crain’s Cleveland Business.

If not enough employees signed up for the “voluntary transition program,” layoffs would be necessary, company officials said.

The company also said it was deferring merit pay increases for Store Support Center employees in Fairlawn and Dallas, Crain’s reported.

Read more at the Dallas Business Journal

Looking for a Seamless Sale? Call Wilkerson

After almost 60 years in business, Breakiron Jewelers in Erie, Pennsylvania, was closing its doors. And the store’s owner, Linda Breakiron, was ready for it. She had run the store as its sole owner since the beginning of the millennium and was looking forward to a change. Of course, she called Wilkerson. Breakiron talked to other jewelers who had used Wilkerson and was satisfied with their response. “They always had positive feedback,” she recalls. With the sales, marketing and even additional inventory that Wilkerson provided, Breakiron insists she could never have accomplished her going-out-of-business sale without Wilkerson’s help. She’s now ready for the journey ahead, but looking back, she’d be sure to recommend Wilkerson. “They just made the whole process very seamless.”