Lauri Enterprises has been bought by Smethport Specialty of Pennsylvania.
AVON – An Avon factory that has made education toys for tots for more than three decades will close its doors later this year.
Lauri Enterprises, brought to Franklin County by Malcolm Sibulkin in 1968 after his mother started the business in Massachusetts in 1960, has been sold to Smethport Specialty of Pennsylvania.
At its peak, the company employed more than 30 workers. The company, known especially for its rubber puzzles, currently employs 22 workers.
The deal went through in late September; however, the 18,000-square-foot factory on Avon Valley Road will likely not shut down until midsummer, said Robert Daggett, vice president of manufacturing for Smethport.
Smethport Specialty has been in business since 1923. The family-owned company operates in a 110,000-square-foot facility and has about 40 employees.
Although it produces a diverse line of specialty toy products, Smethport is most known for its Wooly Willy magnetic drawing set, which features the round faced-mug of a bald Willy, complete with a honking red clown nose.
Users can change Willy’s appearance by using a magnetic wand to drag metallic powder across Willy’s face to create eyebrows, whiskers and hair. Wooly Willy went on to become one of the 40 most popular toys produced during the 1950-to-1980 period, according to an online history of the town of Smethport.
Lauri’s 22 employees were told in September that the plant, which produces 165 products targeted at children ages 2 to 8, would be closing down sometime in 2004.
All Lauri employees were offered full-time jobs in Pennsylvania; however, at this point only one has agreed to make the move south, Daggett said. Others from Avon will travel down for a few weeks to train Smethport employees.
Daggett said Lauri has a good reputation and puts out a strong product.
As Smethport looked to expand and take over other domestic specialty toys, there weren’t a lot of options, Daggett said. Most toy manufacturing has headed to Asia.
He said Lauri seemed like “a natural fit.” Both are located in the western mountain regions of their respective states and both have a strong workforce rooted in its local communities. “It’s like deja vu when I go up there to Avon and look around,” he said.
Initially, Daggett said, the new buyers considered relocating their Pennsylvania plant to Avon; however, there wasn’t enough space to expand the Avon facility. They will hire more workers in order to produce the products formerly made by Lauri workers.
Malcolm Sibulkin, now 75 and living in Industry, said it’s time to retire. After the company sold in September, he got married and is now looking forward to relaxing. He will still own the factory, which is leased to Smethport through September of 2004.
“I am at peace about the sale,” he said Monday. “It was time to step aside while I still have some health left to enjoy life. Now I get to pay more attention to my marriage.”
Sibulkin cited toy making as a very rewarding business and said buying Lauri from his parents and moving the company to Maine was one of the best things he’d ever done.
The secret to his company’s success, he said, was a “joyous product line and a fine workforce.”
There was never a minimum wage job in the place, he said. Workers had good benefits, retirement plans and access to free coffee and beverages. “That was the Lauri way,” he said.
There was also a sense of community between the town of Avon and Lauri, Sibulkin said. “It leaves a good feeling,” he said.
Sibulkin said employees were given as much notice as possible. Except for two managers, everyone has stayed on and is committed to doing so until the last puzzle rolls off the production line.
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