Hersam Acorn Newspapers to Cease Operations of Tri-State Pennysaver

BENNINGTON, VT—December 5, 2014—The Tri-State Pennysaver will cease publication on December 23, 2014, according to a release posted on the Pennysaver's Website by Hersam Acorn Newspapers.

According to Hersam Acorn—the owners of The TriState Pennysaver, the Vermont News Guide and Bennington Printing—the publishing operations of the Vermont News Guide and all specialty publications and digital platforms will be relocated to new offices in Manchester, VT. The reason for the restructuring was a result of a seven-year lull in the Southern Vermont and Western Massachusetts advertising markets that impacted both the publishing and printing divisions of Hersam Acorn’s Vermont operations, the owner explained in the release.

Effective January 30, 2015, Bennington Printing will cease operations at 109 South Street based here, and some of the operations will be absorbed into its commercial printing headquarters in Trumbull, CT.

Commenting on the closure, CEO Martin V. Hersam said: "Despite having the smartest, most hard working and dedicated employees we could not ignore the need to rescale our Vermont operations due to negative market and industry forces."

Hersam continued, "Our printing operation in Bennington has done quite well in a very challenging economy. However, the number of outside newspaper printing clients continues to dwindle in this area—and the business would require significant capital investments to keep going. Our Connecticut commercial business is very strong and we felt this was the time to consolidate our operations there. Unfortunately, this move affects a number of truly amazing employees. This is a painful process at a very sensitive time of the year."

Hersam did not comment on how many employees would be affected.

Source: Pennysaver.