ROCKLAND, Maine — A worldwide wholesale electrical parts company will close three of its Maine stores at the end of next month.
Standard Electric, owned by Wesco International, will close stores in Rockland, Ellsworth and Waterville on Nov. 30, according to Paul Perry who is the manager of the Maine businesses. The stores in Bangor and Portland will remain open.
The Rockland location has six employees while Ellsworth and Waterville each have five workers, Perry said.
“In Maine, we work a lot with residential and small commercial businesses. The residential market has been struggling for the past few years,” Perry said.
Wesco International purchased the Standard Electric stores in 1996. The Rockland business dates back to at least the 1970s and is located at the intersection of Granite and Union streets.
Perry said it has been difficult to close the stores with some of the employees long-term workers with the company. The workers were informed Monday and Tuesday, he said.
The Maine Department of Labor’s rapid response team has been contacted and they will meet sometime next week with employees, Perry said.
“It’s fortunate to have something like this to help the workers during this transition,” Perry said.
According to its website, Wesco is a publicly traded holding company headquartered in Pittsburgh. Wesco has 400 branches in North America and international markets. The company employs 7,500 people with 65,000 customers worldwide, according to its website.
Annual sales for Wesco in 2011 were $6.1 billion.
Wesco states it is a leading provider of electrical, industrial and communications maintenance, repair and operating products, construction materials, and advanced supply chain management and logistics services.
Another reason we need to switch to someone who can take charge without blowing a fuse when main line people who vacation at the Breakers elect him.
Yes, this line is a load.
Sad to see this…and scarry to think how many more businesses will fail due to policies and practices of the incumbent.
I’m no fan of Mr. LePage, but this one isn’t his. One of the bean counters at Wesco has determined that they can get by without the 3 locations to be closed. Wesco’s catalog already offers on-line ordering and quick shipping. I’m sure Wesco believes that last-minute desperate needs could be sent out quickly from Portland or Bangor. Some business, of course, will go to Home Depot, Lowes and local distributors.
With all due respect to Mr. Perry, I see this change as much more “difficult” for the employees losing their jobs. Again, though, don’t blame the (ugh) Governor; this is corporate decision-making at it’s clearest.
Oh, and I’m knowledgeable about corporate bean counters; I used to be one.
This is not good it is sad when people lose their job,but all the reports say the housing industry is booming so how can this company be struggling when everyone else is doing great according to the gov,and his lawmakers.
Can’t speak to how this company is run, but the building materials suppliers in Ellsworth and Rockland are experienced record sales this year(continuing from record sales last year). I do say this as an employee of one of the with branches in both towns.
Which begs the question that if the building supplies industry is making money and generating revenue than why is Standard being closed in these 3 location’s ? The article needs A LOT MORE research before somone starts crying doom and gloom. And that Standard didn’t tell anyone why these 3 locations were being closed is another nagging question. If the 3 location’s weren’t making money, fine just say so and then we all know. But to just shut them down for no reason tells me that there’s a lot more here than meets the eye.
Ummmm, they like, dont’t like, have to tell you, like anything…..
Can’t speak to the why, but I have heard from many electricians that there prices are high. And as a general rule, the reason tradesmen shop at places like this and Gilman, FW Webb, Bell Simmons and the like are that they have the whole project AND the best pricing. When the local EBS, Viking, Lowes or Home Depot has a cheaper price on stuff you are supposedly getting at wholesale, something is wrong.
Price depends on who you are . I get much better prices at Bangor Gilman or wesco than Newport Gilman or Ellsworth Wesco.
It’s the lamestream media who are trying to deceive you about how “well” the housing industry (and economy in general) are doing, my friend.
The is a lot of competition for electrical parts in Maine. Standard was unwilling to match prices so it decided to close some of them down. That’s all it is folks.
LD1833 shortage of electricians lol More like shortage of work .
As a frequent customer of the Rockland branch, I am sad to see this store close. The entire staff is so helpful and I have found their prices to be extremely competitive. I wish Doug and the rest of the staff well.
Obama hasn’t defined safe loans so banks are investing rather then loaning.. It is totally Obama fault for trying to distroy the middle class and making everyone poor.
That’s funny considering it was the republicans who sent our jobs overseas and gave taxbreaks to the companies for doing it.
No common sense in politics whatsoever.
I am an employee at one of these branches and looking at all the comments, it is my opinion BigUglyCat has nailed this. I would like to add we were very competitive in our prices. People need to remember Home Depot buys in very large quantities and sometimes it is very hard to compete with them with certain items, such as wire. I also need to add Paul Perry is one of the finest and it’s unfortunate it is him that is left to clean up the mess. Wesco in Bangor has some of the best in the business and I hope people realize this was out of their control, there is noone in Central or Eastern Maine that wanted this. I wish Paul Perry and the entire crew the best!