STARKVILLE — CURiO Brands will lay off 27 employees and immediately cease production of its handmade and poured candles at its plant at 1010 Lynn Lane in Starkville.
The company issued a press release Wednesday afternoon announcing the closure and said the decision came about over disagreements on a new lease with the prospective new property owner, Castle Properties.
“The decision to close the Lynn Lane plant came after we were unable to come to terms with the new owners of the building, who take ownership on March 1, 2023,” CURiO Chief Executive Officer Anne Ward said in the press release.
Chief Commercial Officer Meredith Tutterow told The Dispatch all plant operations, which include all candle pouring lines and handmade product manufacturing, will be moved to the company’s local offices and distribution center at 501 Hwy. 12 W., as well as other plants in the Midwest.
“We will be out of the Lynn Lane facility by Feb. 28,” Tutterow said. “We will be immediately seeking to move equipment and inventory and materials over to the Highway 12 facility and we will be looking to get up and running as quickly as we can.”
CURiO was previously two separate companies — Thymes and DPM Fragrance — that owned Aspen Bay Candles, a candle making business that started in 1991 in Starkville. Those companies merged in 2016 to form CURiO, which is now headquartered in Minneapolis.
Its candle-making plant at Lynn Lane has operated for more than two decades under a lease with Starkville Community Church, Tutterow said.
Tutterow said the company will pay severance to laid-off employees and will try to relocate some employees to the Highway 12 facility, if possible.
“We’ve invited anyone who’s interested in making a relocation, and let them know that they’ll be considered for that,” she said.
Castle Properties has been in negotiations with SCC since July, and the deal was slated to close this month, Castle Properties owner Mark Castleberry said. As part of that process, the church had given Castleberry the authority to negotiate a new lease with CURiO even before the sale closed.
SCC merged with Calvary Baptist Church in November to form Bridgeway Church at the former Calvary location on North Jackson Street.
SCC has moved out of its former church property.
While Castleberry would not comment on whether he will follow through with the purchase of the property in light of CURiO’s departure, he said the church is having “internal discussions.”
Additionally, he disagrees with the comment from CURiO that they were unable to come to terms with his company, but would not go into specifics.
“I don’t want to get into a pissing contest with them,” he said. “I think it could hurt some other things. You know, I kind of find their comments a little unfortunate.”
Joe Horan, pastor for the shuttered SCC and co-pastor for Bridgeway Church, declined to comment on the grounds that SCC has given negotiating authority for the lease to Castleberry Properties.
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