C.H. Briggs Will Cease Business
READING, Pa. – C.H. Briggs Co., a building-materials distributor with an emphasis on interior products such as hard surfaces, will cease operations in the next few months.
Julia Klein, chairwoman of the 56-year, third-generation company, announced the closure yesterday from the company’s headquarters here.
“Changes in the supply chains we depended on mean we can no longer provide the quality of products and customer service that was the hallmark of our business,” Klein said. “We made every attempt to avoid this outcome.”
In a statement, the company noted that the decision to close came after “exhaustive efforts to restructure its relationship with its primary supplier were unsuccessful.”
“We were left with no option but to wind down our operations,” Klein added.
The closure affects 130 employees at the five C.H. Briggs locations in the Eastern United States. In addition to its Reading headquarters, other facilities included Norcross, Ga.; Charlotte, N.C.; Lansdale, Pa.; and Richmond, Va.
All employees will receive a severance and benefits package. A majority of the employees will be let go by Feb. 1, , according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
Some employees will assist in the closure operations through the end of March.
“We recognize how painful this decision is for our co-workers and customers, which is why we worked so hard to avoid it,” Klein said. “We have a talented team, and we are doing all we can to help them be successful in the next phase of their careers.
“We have built a strong culture over three generations, and we are deeply grateful to our co-workers, customers and suppliers for more than a half-century of empowering, elevating and enriching the lives of the communities we serve.”
The company focused on what it called “interior specialty building materials, including the full line of DuPont Corian® hard surfaces as well as Kohler and Rev-a-Shelf fixtures.
C.H. Briggs grew from a local business to a multi-state operation during Klein’s 25+ years heading the company, with sales topping $130 million annually. During that time, C.H. Briggs expanded through six acquisitions throughout the Middle Atlantic and Southeast United States.
“C.H. Briggs is more than just a distributor of specialty building materials,” Klein said. “Our work has always been about people and community – creating exceptional spaces where we can all live, work, learn, play, and heal. Our hope is that those spaces, and the people who design and build them, will be our legacy.”
