Tri-State Pennysaver Ceasing Operations
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BENNINGTON, Vt. — The Tri-State Pennysaver, a victim of declining print advertising, will cease publication at the end of this year and its press will go quiet in January.
The news was announced on the Pennysaver's website Thursday by owner Hersam Acorn Newspapers.
Hersam Acorn said the "restructuring was a result of a seven-year lull" in the region's advertising markets.
"Despite having the smartest, most hard-working and dedicated employees, we could not ignore the need to rescale our Vermont operations due to negative market and industry forces," said Martin V. Hersam, chief executive officer, in the release.
Hersam Acorn, which owns 21 weeklies, bought the TriState Pennysaver News, Berkshire Pennysaver, Yankee Shopper and the Vermont News Guide and Bennington Printing in 2007 from Journal Community Publishing Group. The acquisition included 11 newspapers in Connecticut and a printing operation in Trumbull, Conn.
The Yankee Shopper and Berkshire Pennysaver were closed in early 2009. (The Western Massachusetts Pennysaver out of Northampton is distributed in Berkshire County.)
The last issue of the Tri-State Pennysaver will be Dec. 23; Bennington Printing located at 109 South St., will close on Jan. 30.
The Vermont News Guide and any specialty publications and digital platforms will be relocated to new offices in Manchester.
Hersam Acorn said some of the operations will be consolidated into the commercial printing operations in Trumbull.
"Our printing operation in Bennington has done quite well in a very challenging economy," Hersam said. "However, the number of outside newspaper printing clients continues to dwindle in this area – and the business would require significant capital investments to keep going."
Hersam did not say how many employees were expected to be affected.
"This is a painful process at a very sensitive time of the year," he said.
Tags: closure, news media,
