Prime to close Rochester tannery

At the end of August Prime Tanning, headquartered in Rochester, announced that they will be closing their Rochester, New Hampshire tannery and converting their Berwick, Maine, facility to a product development centre. They say that the continuing decline of the US footwear manufacturing industry has made it impossible for Prime to maintain the necessary production levels. Imports now account for 96% of shoe sales in the US and show no sign of declining. Ken Purdy, president of Prime, stated: 'We have the best workforce that is filled with pride and passion, but it wasn't enough to solve the problem of a declining customer base. There are just too few customers left in America. 'The shoe industry is just another example of America giving up its manufacturing base. Unfortunately as manufacturing is lost, suppliers to the manufacturers, such as Prime, are severely impacted. 'We were able to fix our internal problems and continued to lower our costs but, with most of our customers shrinking their US production or moving off-shore, we simply ran out of options. After manufacturing in this area for over 60 years, it is with a heavy heart that we make this announcement.' Prime will phase out production over the next three months in both plants. Severance will be paid to all employees with three years or more of service. Prime will continue to operate their wet-blue plant in St Joseph, Missouri, and will maintain a sales, marketing, customer service, administrative and corporate office in New Hampshire and a product development centre at their Berwick, Maine, facility.