News

Appleseed's moving 100 jobs to Pennsylvania

By Paul Leighton
Staff writer
Published: March 13, 2008

BEVERLY — Appleseed's, the women's clothing company that has been in Beverly since it began in 1946, is moving 100 jobs to Pennsylvania.

The company said it is relocating its call center from Tozer Road in Beverly to Warren, Pa., in order to consolidate with one of its sister companies.

A spokeswoman for Appleseed's said the 100 employees who work in the call center will be offered their same jobs in Pennsylvania and given financial incentives to make the move.

Appleseed's will try to find jobs within the company for those who don't want to move, said Sarah Bochynski, director of strategic communications for Orchard Brands, the parent company of Appleseed's.

"We are going to do everything we can to ease this transition point for everyone affected," Bochynski said.

The relocation of the call center will reduce the number of Appleseed's employees in Beverly to about 550, according to Bochynski. But she said the company is committed to staying in Beverly and in fact has increased the number of employees since it was bought by Golden Gate Capital, a San Francisco investment firm, in 2005.

"We're definitely still growing in Beverly," Bochynski said. "Appleseed's for its 60-plus years has clearly been committed to the North Shore and to the Beverly community. That is clearly not changing."

Golden Gate Capital has purchased a number of apparel companies that target women and men ages 55 and over, mostly through catalog sales. It set up Orchard Brands to oversee those brands and based the company at Appleseed's headquarters on Tozer Road.

Orchard Brands includes 10 companies, among them Appleseed's, and has more than $1.1 billion in revenue, according to the company's Web site.

Bochynski said the relocation of the Appleseed's call center is part of a continuing consolidation of operations. But Beverly will also benefit, she said, because the company plans to consolidate its accounting services in Beverly and will be doing "double-digit hiring" within 18 months.

"The goal is to ensure we are gaining efficiency and flexibility in managing the various peaks and valleys of multiple brands and businesses," Bochynski said.

Beverly is the home of Appleseed's marketing, merchandising, product development, human resources, financial and technology services, as well as a distribution center. Appleseed's also has 10 stores in New England, including two in Beverly.

North Shore Chamber of Commerce President Robert Bradford said he is not surprised by the move because call centers are "notoriously expensive to run," especially in the Northeast, where costs are high. Bradford noted that Sears closed its call center in Salem in 2004.

"Those call centers can be anywhere — India, Ireland, whatever," he said. "It's an international economy."

But Bradford said he thinks Appleseed's is a strong company and will stay in Beverly for the long term.

"They've really been growing," he said. "They're a great corporate citizen, and they love the North Shore, they love Beverly."

The approximately 100 employees at the call center take phone calls and e-mails from customers ordering products. Some of them are longtime employees, Bochynski said.

The call center is moving to Warren, a town of 10,000 people in northwestern Pennsylvania that is home to Blair Corp., a clothing company that was purchased by Orchard Brands in January.

Bochynski said Appleseed's will assist employees who don't want to move to Pennsylvania or are not offered other jobs within the company.

"We'll work with agencies on transition and outplacement to help folks land on their feet," she said.