San Diego Glass & Paint to Close Its Retail Stores
Contending that its operations have not been “sufficiently profitable,” San Diego Glass & Paint, a landmark chain founded in 1928, will begin closing its 18 retail outlets Friday, the company said Wednesday.
Closure of the stores will take up to six weeks, the company said in a one-page statement released Wednesday.
San Diego Glass & Paint is in negotiations for a new three-year contract with members of the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 135, which represents 75 of the firm’s 225 workers.
Union leaders were told of the planned closure on Tuesday, the sixth negotiating session, according to Norm Bell, UFCW Local 135 secretary-treasurer.
Company officials said that the business “hasn’t been sufficiently profitable and predictably won’t be sufficiently profitable in our judgment.”
Prospects ‘Aren’t Good’
The “long-range prospects for a company of this size in this industry aren’t good,” the company said.
In addition, no member of the family-owned business “is coming along who wants to run the retail” operation.
San Diego Glass & Paint was founded 59 years ago by Irving Mitchell. He died in 1970. His son-in-law, Robert Shapiro, has run the business since then.
Labor union officials were “really surprised” by the announcement.
“I think I’m more saddened than anything else,” said Bell, who was a clerk at San Diego Glass & Paint from 1972 to 1977.
The company and the union will continue negotiations about severance pay, health benefits and employment for the workers remaining during the liquidation.
San Diego Glass & Paint also will close a wholesale warehouse and a glazing operation, both of which are represented by unions.
The company’s glass construction business, which employs 50 people, will not close, according to general manager George Rotsheck.
Rotsheck would not disclose company revenues or profits.
San Diego Glass & Paint is the latest in a growing series of retail closures to hit San Diego. Gemco and Handyman have closed their stores, and Walker-Scott will shut five of its seven outlets.
