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Coldwater Creek to add 400 jobs in W. Virginia

Idaho company expands staff for holiday rush

Idaho-based Coldwater Creek will add 400 temporary employees at its West Virginia distribution center to handle the catalog company´s Christmas rush.

Chairman Dennis Pence said “some” of the new jobs will become permanent positions, but he declined to be more specific.

Coldwater Creek, which announces its second-quarter earnings next week, closed its northern Idaho distribution center to consolidate shipping operations in West Virginia. The decision idled 150 workers in the Sandpoint area, aggravating the state´s economic downturn.

About 700 people work the upscale clothier´s Parkersburg facility now. Pence said half the new employees will work in the facility´s call center and the rest in distribution.

“This will give our area quite a thrust in employment during the season,” Parkersburg Mayor Jimmy Colombo said.

West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, who toured the distribution facility this week, was optimistic that the temporary jobs for the Christmas season will lead to something more.

“This company has the promise of upward mobility, which is an important message to get out to those who are hired at this facility,” Wise said.

Coldwater Creek ships more than 70,000 packages a day from Parkersburg during the holiday buying season.

Predicted growth will allow more than 150,000 packages to be shipped each day, the company said.

Coldwater Creek sells more than 3,000 items, including women´s clothes, jewelry, home merchandise and decor and accessories, through its catalog and Web site.

The company also has four dozen retail outlets throughout the country.

For its first quarter ending in June this year, Coldwater Creek reported sales of $112 million, down fractionally from a year earlier. But it posted a $2.8 million profit for the three-month period after losing $2.5 million last winter.

During the first quarter of 2001, the company earned $1.4 million.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/Business/story.asp?ID=20885

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