CLEAR LAKE – NorthIowaToday.com has been notified by phone calls that Larson Door plant in Clear Lake may be closing its doors or consolidating operations in some way, possibly with their operation in Lake Mills.
“There is a plant meeting going on right now,” one caller said, who asked not to be identified. “They are also planning a big meeting in Albert Lea,” the same person said.
A call to the Larson Door plant at 1:50pm Tuesday was answered and an official there said that a press release was being put together. The person could niether confirm nor deny the information given to NorthIowaToday.com. That press release would be sent out “by the end of the day,” the official said.
UPDATE: A tipster (NOTE: this is unofficial information) has reported at 2:30pm that Larson will close its Clear Lake plant over an 8 month period. The company will allow 90 people to transfer. There will be some kind of severance package available.
Larson Manufacturing is the largest manufacturer of storm doors and storm windows in the United States. Larson has manufacturing plants in Brookings, SD; Lake Mills, IA; Clear Lake, IA; and Mocksville, NC.
Internet searches show that the Clear Lake plant employs roughly 200 people.
A story in windowanddoor.cm from November of 2010 said that Larson layed off about 60 people in Clear Lake at about that time.