The White Rock Distillery in Lewiston began operating back in 1971. It business grew to be a much larger operation and was bought out by a national company by the name of Beam just last year. On Thursday, company officials announced they would be shutting down operations in Lewiston, shifting production to a facility in Kentucky. That move signals the loss of 160 jobs by next year.
Mary Lafontaine, Maine Career Center: As predicted by all economist, we are going to have a bumpy road in this recovery and what we've experienced this is week is exactly that."
Earlier this week, Geiger, which produces the Farmers Almanac, announced its plans to sell the manufacturing operation in the city of Lewiston. That decision means the end to 75-more jobs, another major blow to the local economy.
Phil Nadeau is the deputy city administrator for the city of Lewiston. He says the job losses will directly impact workers, their families and the community. But he says companies closing up shop are nothing new to the area. He also says its not all bad news.
Phil Nadeau, Lewiston deputy city administrator: Our experience is we come out of the situations like this more often than not, with another opportunity so, we are very optimistic in that regard and we don't want people to forget that we have gone through this before.
Thursday wasn't all bad news, TD Bank announced that it resigned its lease at the mill for another ten years. That decision preserves 800 jobs here in the area.
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