PITTSFIELD (AP) – Just as one company announced it will close, leaving nearly 150 people jobless, another said it will move here, bringing with it the prospect of employing 200 people.

SAS Shoemakers blamed a reduced demand for penny loafers and other styles produced in its central Maine plant for the closing, which is scheduled to be complete by the end of the summer.

The San Antonio-based company says it makes sense to move production to the its expanded facilities in Texas. A spokeswoman says the company’s not abandoning the Maine jobs, but it’s transferring them to Texas.

SAS plans to lay off groups of workers starting the week of April 14. Some Maine employees may receive transfer offers.

Meanwhile, a North Carolina-based company selected Pittsfield as the site for a new call center that could employ up to 200 people.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Maine Republicans, said they were told Tuesday that Global Contact Services will begin hiring next month and have the center up and running in March.

The company, which runs 11 call centers in six states, announced this month that Pittsfield was one of four towns – and the only one in Maine – under consideration for the center. The company will locate in a vacant call center where ICT Group operated until 2003.

According to Snowe, Global Contact clients include Bank of America, Valero, JP Morgan Chase, Verizon, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, American Express and Washington Mutual.