A New Hampton company that makes specialty candles has announced it will close this summer, putting 57 people out of work. SC Johnson had purchased Soy Basics in 2008, but a statement from the company on Thursday states they’ll be closing the factory on July 1st. The statement says the company has been faced with the realities of soft sales in the specialty candle market, adding that since the economic crisis of 2008, more than 150,000 United States specialty boutique stores have closed, and unfortunately the market for specialty candles has not rebounded.
The company says employees were informed of the decision on Thursday and about a years-of-service-based severance package which includes a minimum of nine weeks pay, job training assistance, as well as continuing health benefits through July. SC Johnson says they’ll sell the facility and try to bring in a new employer.
Soy Basics started as a small-scale specialty candle maker under a different name in the town of Tipton before moving to New Hampton in 2001.
(Reporting by Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City)