![]() Illuminations, he said, is a “more fashion forward, décor driven business than our fragrance driven Yankee Candle business. In Yankee Candle’s first-quarter 2008 financial statement, officials said the company initiated a restructuring plan designed to close three underperforming Illuminations stores in southern California and relocate the Illuminations corporate headquarters from Petaluma, CA to the company’s South Deerfield, MA HQ.īoth Yankee Candle and Illuminations, established in 1996, sell scented candles and related home decor items to resellers as well as to consumers via stores, catalogs, and the Internet.īut Kent has said there is a demographic difference between customers of Illuminations and Yankee Candle. ![]() What’s more, Kent said in May 2008 that closing the Petaluma headquarters of Illuminations and “consolidating back into our headquarters is not indicative of a change in investment or belief or optimism of what the potential is for this business.” ![]() That closing affected about 20 people, many of whom worked on the Illuminations catalog and Web business, Yankee Candle president/chief operating officer Harlan Kent told Multichannel Merchant at the time. In May 2008, company officials closed the Illuminations headquarters in Petaluma, CA. Yankee Candle acquired Illuminations in July 2006. All affected full and part-time employees are being offered severance packages. Most of the Illuminations retail stores are located on the West Coast.Īs per the restructuring plan, approximately 330 employees(full, part-time and seasonal) will be laid off, including about 310 store employees and field personnel in the Illuminations division approximately 10 store employees in the one Yankee Candle retail store to be closed and approximately 12 corporate and administrative personnel in the corporate headquarters. Yankee Candle expects to incur charges related to the restructuring plan of approximately $18.0 million to $22.0 million in total, part of which will be taken in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 and the remainder in the first quarter of 2009. The company says it expects to continue to open new Yankee Candle retail stores at a pace similar to that of recent years. “We plan to continue to develop and market Illuminations branded products primarily through our core wholesale business.” “It is important to note that the Illuminations brand remains an important strategic asset and component of our product portfolio,” he added. “But given this unprecedented macro-economic environment, particularly in the retail sector, we believe that this restructuring plan is necessary.” “Decisions like these which affect our employees are very difficult ones,” Yankee Candle chairman/CEO Craig Rydin said in the statement.
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