The Lenox Factory Outlet store in Mt. Pleasant Township is shuttering, putting an end to a long history at the glass plant.
Lenox, which sells tabletop and giftware items, announced Tuesday all outlet and warehouse stores will permanently close, citing difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic. A closing date was not given, and a post on the company’s Facebook page stated liquidation sales would begin shortly.
“It isn’t a good thing because a lot of people come from a lot of places to get the Lenox glass and what they sell,” township Supervisor Duane Hutter said. “It’s a big, big loss to the community.”
The site along East Main Street originally was home to the Lenox Crystal manufacturing plant, which produced crystal stemware glass and gift items. Competition from foreign imports, coupled with a lack of demand for fine crystal, caused the facility to close in January 2002, leaving 158 workers jobless.
The store adjacent to the factory remained open.
“Back in the day, when the plant was running, they used to ship a lot of glass; the ovens and everything was there,” Hutter said.
After the facility closed, Westmoreland County officials purchased the building with the hope they could save some jobs for employees of the manufacturing plant while honing their skills. By November 2002, the facility reopened to glass manufacturers wanting to sell and produce their products.
By 2006, county officials invested $3.6 million into the 155,000-square-foot facility — 53,000 of which was the Lenox factory — with hopes to attract a manufacturer or large defense contractor. At the time, the facility — known as the Mount Pleasant Glass Center — was home to four businesses, including the Lenox Factory Outlet.
Today, there are seven tenants in the building, with Glassautomatic Inc., a glass engraver, being the largest. Lenox takes up more than 16,000 square feet.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen now,” Hutter said. “We have to figure out something to put in there.”
Officials at the local Lenox store were not available for comment Wednesday. According to the post on the Lenox Facebook page, the website lenox.com will remain available to shoppers.
