The Talbot’s Distribution Center located in Lakeville will be permanently closing this November.
On May 13, the company notified the state of the impending layoff of 277 people as a result of the closure. The plan is to close the distribution center in three phases, beginning on July 29 and concluding on November 11.
The Lakeville facility is the only distribution center for the Hingham-based company, which in addition to sending out clothing to the chain’s more than 550 retail outlets also processes all online orders.
The one-million-square-foot distribution center is located on Kenneth Welch Drive in Lakeville in the Great Pond Industrial Park.
The Talbot’s brand began in 1947 and soon moved to an historic house in Hingham, painting the door red to symbolize welcomeness, according to the company’s website. The “red door” became a trademark of the Talbot’s brand.
In 2012, the company was purchased by Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm that also went on to purchase Torrid, Lane Bryant, Ann Taylor, The Limited, Hot Topic, Staples, and other retailers.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic particularly affected Talbot’s, with its core demographic of older, professional women more likely to work from home since 2020. As a result, the S&P downgraded the company’s status to “deep junk territory” in January 2001.
