Maine factory that makes Lincoln Logs to close, – Business News
Lincoln Logs are amongst a handful of traditional toys made within the USA with American trees, however that’s seemingly to change in a matter of weeks.
Pride Manufacturing — the Maine factory that makes Lincoln Logs and different wooden merchandise — is closing in April after dropping its greatest contract, to make cigar ideas for an additional company, The Post has discovered.
Pride Manufacturing in Burnham, Maine, is closing in April, the company stated. Google Maps
That leaves toymaker Basic Fun scrambling to discover a new factory to manufacture the century-old model that was based by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, John, and has been a staple in households’ toy chests for many years.
Production of the $10 million model will seemingly transfer abroad and value customers about 10% more, in accordance to Jay Foreman, chief government of Boca Raton, Fla.-based Basic Fun.
“We are desperately looking for a vendor here that manufactures custom wood parts,” he advised The Post. “We are hoping that someone will purchase the factory or buy the equipment, but we are not counting on it for this year.”
The transfer comes as toy firms have been exploring methods to deliver manufacturing to the US, because the overwhelming majority of toys are made in China.
The century-old Lincoln Logs set is called after US President Abraham Lincoln. Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock
Lincoln Logs are made within the US from American wooden. Dennis M. Swanson – stock.adobe.com
Demand for Lincoln Logs, the toy named after a sure US president, started to decline after Toys R Us went bankrupt in 2017.
The loss of the toy chain hit the toy industry like an earthquake.
Lincoln Logs had reached $14 million in annual gross sales earlier than that chapter and was beginning to climb back up in 2024, Foreman stated. Last yr, demand started to dip as a result of of “overall inflation and consumer uncertainty,” in accordance to Foreman.
Lincoln Logs go for $50 to $70 for a 120-piece tin, relying on the time of yr.
Jay Foreman is the chief government of Basic Fun, which sells Lincoln Logs amongst different traditional toy manufacturers. AP
The units will seemingly price $5 to $7 more this yr as a result of of US tariffs on Chinese-made merchandise, Foreman stated.
Basic Fun, which makes different traditional toys – together with Lite Brite, Care Bears and Tonka Trucks – has initiated a 45-day seek for a US provider however it is usually making ready a back-up plan in China to make sure it may possibly produce enough toys for the vacations, Foreman stated.
The plastic items that include Lincoln Log units – together with roofs and different equipment like livestock and farmers – are made in China. They are shipped in bulk to the US and packed into the packing containers and tins of wooden components that had been made by Pride Manufacturing.
The Burnham, Maine, factory made the units beginning in 2014.
Lincoln Logs was based by the son of celebrated architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Corbis by way of Getty Images
For the bulk of Lincoln Logs’ life, the merchandise had been made within the US, however manufacturing moved to China within the Nineteen Nineties as a result of it price much less to make them there, Foreman stated. Plastic components had been added to units round that time, he added.
Some 115 factory employees will lose their jobs at Pride Manufacturing when it closes.
It’s owned by New York City non-public equity firm Centre Partners Management.
“After our largest customer made the decision to relocate their sourcing for cigar tips, our highest volume product, the facility became financially unviable,” the firm stated in a assertion.
“While this is not the outcome Pride Manufacturing or Centre Partners wanted, this customer’s change in position is forcing the closure of this operation.”
The buyer, in accordance to sources with data of the state of affairs, is John Middleton, a downmarket cigar maker and subsidiary of tobacco conglomerate Altria Company.
Altria didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark about about why it yanked its business from Pride, which is the one cigar tip operation within the US, in accordance to sources.
The ideas are produced from birch wooden and are bought as half of John Middleton’s Black & Mild cigars, which include FDA-approved flavored wooden ideas.
