Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 17, 1995 TAG: 9508170068
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The company last week announced it would lay off employees and cut expenses. But Home Shopping spokeswoman Louise Cleary said the move will have "little effect" on levels of employment at the Salem warehouse and order-filling center.
The Salem center has about 450 workers, Cleary said.
The company recently closed its distribution center in Reno, Nev., because it was not working at capacity, Cleary said.
That leaves the company with three distribution centers: in Salem; in Waterloo, Iowa; and at the company headquarters in Clearwater, Fla. "We are not closing any more centers," Cleary said.
The network is transferring its jewelry operation to Salem from Clearwater, Cleary said. That means the Salem fulfillment center will handle jewelry and apparel orders.
The Waterloo warehouse handles so-called hard goods, while Clearwater will be devoted primarily to reworking problem orders.
Cleary said, however, that the Home Shopping Network is "employing a lot of other cost-savings measures" in Salem and other locations.
For example, Cleary said, the company will take a look at its outside contracting services to determine which actually are needed.
The company said Friday it would lay off about 200 workers, equal to 4 percent of its work force, throughout its system in an effort to cut costs. The company has reduced employment by 1,000 to 4,000 people in the last 18 months, including those lost from the closing of the Reno distribution center.
The network last month reported a second-quarter net loss of $9.7 million, equal to 11 cents per common share, on sales of $246.7 million. That compared to net income of $1.9 million, or 2 cents per share, on sales of $274.0 million in the same quarter last year.
by CNB