Employees at Provo's Sears Telecatalog Center got good news Wednesday - the center won't be closing after all.
Sears announced that the center will remain open, making the transition from the telecatalog business to a Sears Teleservice Center. The change will allow the center's 1,400 employees to keep their jobs."We just announced to employees that we will be keeping the center open, and I am seeing a lot of happy faces around here," said Jim Rohrer, national manager of Sears Telecatalog.
Sears opened the telecatalog center in Provo's East Bay Business Park in Provo four years ago. In January, Sears, Roebuck and Co. announced plans to close more than 100 stores and discontinue its telecatalog centers - including the center in Provo.
Now instead of taking catalog orders, center employees will arrange product services for customers and order parts. The new center will provide about as many jobs, Rohrer said.
"We are really pleased. We were hoping that would happen. That operation covered a niche that a lot of companies don't cover, so it will continue to have a good positive impact on our work force," said Gary Golightly, director of economic development for Provo City.
That niche is desperately needed flexible, part-time jobs in Utah County for students, retirees and mothers. The center has provided up to 2,300 part-time jobs during peak operations, Golightly said.
Sixty-five-year-old Ruby Larsen, a supervisor at Sears Telecatalog who has been there since the center opened, said she was tickled that she'd be able to keep her job.
"There aren't very many places we could get a job as good as this one," Larsen said.
Carolyn Myrick, a single mother who relied on her income at Sears to support her family, was also happy about the announcement.
"I' m very relieved. I've really enjoyed working for Sears and I'll still have a job, which is a big relief. Thank goodness I won't have to go looking for a job," Myrick said.
Rohrer said no one is certain exactly when the center will make the transition, but it will be in the next few months.
"We're uncertain about when it will be closing. We need to sell off the inventory and take care of the responsibility to suppliers. We have to phase out the catalog business and phase in the new."
In the meantime, Provo's Telecatalog Center will help wind down Sears' telemarketing business, Rohrer said.