Lenox closing all warehouse and outlet stores due to COVID-19
Lenox has announced the upcoming closure of all its outlet and warehouse stores, including its only Lehigh Valley location at The Outlets at Wind Creek Bethlehem, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The gift and tableware company, founded in 1889, attributed the upcoming closures to “the challenging issues brought on by COVID-19.”
The Bethlehem store, offering fine china, crystal, flatware and more at savings of up to 70% off suggested retail prices, is scheduled to close at the end of September, but it could close earlier depending on how much inventory is sold in the coming weeks, an employee said.
Customers can shop merchandise, which has been discounted 30% to 50% off regular prices, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.
“As always, we are open 24/7 online at lenox.com,” an email announcement to customers says.
Lenox Corp., based in Bristol, Bucks County, on April 20 announced that it was closing its Kinston, North Carolina, bone china factory due to the “unforeseeable downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The 218,000-square-foot factory, built in 1989, produced fine bone china dinnerware patterns and was renowned in the industry for its manufacturing capabilities, including hand-enameled dots, etching techniques and microwave-safe metals. The Kinston plant produced nine of Lenox’s top 10 patterns and could produce 15,000 to 20,000 pieces of fine china daily.
“It has been a very difficult decision to decide to close the factory,” Lenox CEO Mads Ryder said in a press release. “It is closing a chapter in Lenox’s long and illustrious history as an
American manufacturer of fine dinnerware products.”
Lenox’s origins date to 1889, when Walter Scott Lenox opened the Ceramic Art Company, a small studio with a few artists hand-painting ivory china.
The company, which became Lenox Incorporated in 1906, was the first American china company to grace a president’s table when President Woodrow Wilson commissioned an official state of service of 1,700 pieces.
Ryder ensured that, with more than 130 years of business behind the company, Lenox will continue to remain strong and its heritage patterns will continue to be designed and developed in the U.S. and manufactured in Europe and Asia.
Morning Call features reporter and Retail Watch columnist Ryan Kneller can be reached at 610-820-6597 or retailwatch@mcall.com.