New Balance factory on Depot Street on Tuesday in Norridgewock. The company announced Tuesday that it plans to close its Norridgewock factory and move those operations to an expanded manufacturing facility this fall in Skowhegan. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

SKOWHEGAN — New Balance announced Tuesday that it plans to close its factory in Norridgewock and move those operations to an expanded manufacturing facility in Skowhegan.

The transition to the consolidated manufacturing facility, to be called “Central Maine,” will begin this fall, according to a statement released by the company. All jobs at the Norridgewock site will be transferred to Skowhegan, the company said.

“Our long-standing commitment to making highly crafted, premium athletic footwear in Maine has never been stronger and this move will strengthen our team’s capabilities and offer significant benefits as a unified and collaborative Central Maine workforce,” the statement said. “This consolidation allows us to navigate Maine’s workforce climate by increasing our investment in our current associates, and we will continue to hire the right talent for the right jobs to ensure all our associates’ future success.”

Company officials met Tuesday morning with employees in both Norridgewock and Skowhegan, said Amy Dow, senior director of public relations and government affairs at New Balance’s Boston headquarters.

New Balance has operated the Norridgewock plant since 1982, when it took over the former Norrwock Shoe Co. plant.

In 2022, New Balance announced a $65 million expansion of its Skowhegan facility, off Walnut Street. The Skowhegan factory is one of several that the company owns in New England. Its factory in Norway, the other it operates in Maine, is not expected to be affected by the planned consolidation, Dow said.

The expansion, scheduled to be completed later this year, was expected to add about 250 jobs at the factory, which at the time of the announcement employed about 200 workers.

The Skowhegan facility currently has about 260 associates and the Norridgewock facility has about 230 associates, “so we will have almost 500 associates at the Central Maine facility once we fully combine and we will continue to hire for open positions,” Dow said.

New Balance is a major employer in Somerset County and likely made the decision to improve its efficiency, said Christian Savage, executive director of the Somerset Economic Development Corp., the county’s economic development agency.

A clipping from the May 21, 1982, edition of the Morning Sentinel reports that the former Norrwock Shoe Co. plant in Norridgewock was producing shoes again, this time for New Balance Athletic Shoe Co., which took over the factory that spring. Company officials announced Tuesday that it was closing the Norridgewock plant, with operations moving to its Skowhegan factory. Clipping courtesy of Newspapers.com

New Balance and Sappi North America’s Somerset Mill in Skowhegan provide hundreds of manufacturing jobs, which makes the region unique compared to much of Maine, Savage said.

“Sappi and New Balance are world-renowned and world-class facilities,” he said. “Both places, people can make a career there. There’s a ton of room for advancement. New Balance treats their employees really well. … It’s definitely an employer you want in your community.”

Savage, reached via telephone Tuesday afternoon, said he had not heard of the announcement, so he could not yet comment on specific impacts of the decision to consolidate the two factories.

Norridgewock Town Manager Richard LaBelle said he found out about the news from New Balance’s corporate office Tuesday morning. Some had speculated when the company announced its Skowhegan expansion that it would close the Norridgewock facility, but company officials said repeatedly that was not the case, LaBelle said.

“It just kind of took us surprise that the facility would be shuttered,” LaBelle said via telephone on Tuesday.

New Balance announced Tuesday that it plans to close its factory in Norridgewock, seen on Depot Street, and move those operations this fall to an expanded manufacturing facility in Skowhegan. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

LaBelle said he is glad that New Balance is maintaining a presence in the region but expects the move to have a significant impact on Norridgewock as the jobs move out of town.

“I think their thought in looking at us as a region was that just by taking these, say, 200 jobs and moving them to Skowhegan — it’s just 10 miles down the road, no impact,” LaBelle said. “And, in fact, you move those jobs from Norridgewock just over to Skowhegan, and it will have a negative impact on the Norridgewock community. We really don’t fully understand it right now.”

LaBelle said he has already heard from local business owners concerned about the factory’s closure and that he contacted the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce to begin working on efforts to mitigate the impacts.

“We’re working to figure out how our community is going to be impacted and how we can help to mitigate the impact of losing those two to three hundred employees per day that are coming into Norridgewock that will no longer come through,” LaBelle said. “Whether that is folks that are picking up meals, dining out, purchasing fuel, childcare services, impact on our schools, and what not are things that we need to consider.”

New Balance, meanwhile, has yet to say what it plans to do with the Norridgewock factory. Dow, the spokesperson, said the company is working with the town and the state on a plan.

“We are grateful to the Norridgewock community and are committed to maintaining support of our many Somerset County sponsorships and charitable partnerships,” the company’s statement said. “We are working with the Town of Norridgewock to determine future usage for the factory location.”