Business AgLife
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Thursday, May 14, 2020
The Observer & Baker City Herald
La Grande RV makers resuming production
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — North-
wood Investments, parent com-
pany to La Grande-based rec-
reational vehicle manufacturers
Northwood Manufacturing
and Outdoors RV announced
Tuesday the plants will resume
production Monday.
Northwood and Outdoors
have a three-phase plan for the
reopening, according to the
press release from Northwood
Investments.
Phase One included a series
of steps and precautions to
give employees the safest
work environment possible,
including using a touchless,
thermal thermometer to take
each employee’s temperature; a
daily employee safety survey;
and using face masks, dispos-
able gloves, disinfectant and
hand sanitizer.
Company CEO Craig Orton
in the press release stated the
health and safety of employees
remains the No. 1 priority.
“We want to be sure to pro-
tect all our team members
while they are at work as well
as our community as a whole,”
he said.
With the safety measures
now in place, Northwood and
Outdoors began Phase Two on
Tuesday, with production man-
agers contacting employees
via phone and text to recall the
first wave of workers to restart
the manufacturing lines.
“Given everything we have
all been through the past few
weeks and months, it just feels
great to simply say, ‘We’re
back,’” Orton said.
Phase Three is the return of
the balance of the work force,
the company reported, which
it expects to occur within
the next few weeks. North-
wood Investments CFO Cerise
Smallwood said the intention is
to get employees back to work
as soon possible.
“We are a family here,”
she stated in the press release,
“and we truly miss every
single person.”
To assist in keeping clear
lines of communication, the
two manufactures are asking
every employee to call their
respective plant office this
week between 8 a.m. and noon
and ask to speak to the produc-
tion staff about work sched-
ules. Northwood Manufac-
turing and Outdoors RV will
provide more scheduling infor-
mation as it becomes available.
Contributed photo
Zoey Leith, a junior at Joseph Charter
School, won awards for Top Producer and
Most Likely to Be an Entrepreneur for her
efforts in the Mentor Match Youth Entrepre-
neur Program. The program ended May 6
with a Zoom meeting.
Joseph Charter
School junior wins
at entrepreneur
program
Two juniors at Enterprise High
School share the ‘Most
Valuable Entrepreneur’ award
J
By Bill Bradshaw
EO Media Group
JOSEPH — Zoey Leith, a junior at
Joseph Charter School, won awards for Top
Producer and Most Likely to Be an Entre-
preneur as the ninth year of the Mentor
Match Youth Entrepreneur Program
wrapped up May 6.
Leith won for her business
Forget-Me-Not Designs, a hand-crafted
home décor business, according to a press
release.
The awards and presentations were
held via a Zoom meeting in light of the
COVID-19 restrictions.
“Zoey was first to launch her business
by signing up for two holiday bazaars,” said
Stacy Green, program adviser. “She was the
first to develop a flyer and a social media
presence. Zoey had over 50 individual
transactions, a program record.”
In addition, Leith partnered with Mentor
Match President Foster Hobbs on a custom
commission for the Wallowa County Court-
house after Commissioner Susan Rob-
erts saw a display of their products at the
Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Cit-
izen Awards Banquet. Hobbs, a senior at
Enterprise High School, started Lostine
River Forge and makes custom ironworks.
Working with Leith, they designed a coat
rack that is now on the third floor of the his-
toric building.
“Zoey’s creativity far exceeded anything
we thought we wanted,” Roberts said.
The commission for the youths led to
an order for 18 door and drawer pulls that
Hobbs made.
“They are really unique and quite beau-
tiful,” said Roberts, adding the teens did
great work and were a pleasure to work
with.
Most Valuable Entrepreneur, based on
See, Mentors/Page 3B
Bealls’ owner files for bankruptcy protection
Houston-based Stage
Stores Inc. plans to
liquidate inventory at
700 stores nationwide
J
By Phil Wright
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — The
parent company of Bealls and
other department stores filed
Sunday for bankruptcy protec-
tion, unable to climb out of a
financial hole the COVID-19
pandemic made even deeper.
Houston-based Stage Stores
Inc. in a press release also
announced it will simultane-
ously seek buyers for all or
parts of its business and “ini-
tiate an orderly wind-down of
operations.”
The company operates
Bealls, Goody’s and Palais
Royal, primarily in rural com-
munities, and off-price stores
under the Gordmans brand,
and employs approximately
14,700 people at roughly
700 stores across 42 states,
according to the court docu-
ments it filed in U.S. Bank-
ruptcy Court in Houston, its
base of operations.
Bealls has a few stores
in Oregon, including in La
Grande and Hermiston. The La
Grande store opened in 2009.
Stage Stores closed its prop-
erties due to the COVID-19
pandemic. Signs on the inside
of the windows at the La
Grande Bealls explain the store
remains closed until the state
lifts the restrictions to curb the
spread of the virus.
Stage Stores in its press
release stated it is taking a
phased approach to reopening
its stores in the coming weeks
to liquidate inventory.
The company anticipates
reopening 557 stores May 15,
another 67 stores on May 28
and the “balance of the chain”
on June 4. Stage Stores also
will end the wind-down at cer-
tain locations if it receives a
viable going-concern bid.
The company’s Chapter 11
filing listed total assets as of
Nov. 2, 2019 at more than $1.7
billion and total liabilities at a
Photo by Phil Wright/EO Media Group
The Bealls in La Grande remains closes due to COVID-19 restrictions. Stage Stores Inc., the parent
company of Bealls and other department stores, filed Sunday for bankruptcy protection.
Photo by Phil Wright/EO Media Group
Signs in the window of the Bealls in La Grande explain the stores
remains closes due to COVID-19 restrictions. Stage Stores Inc.,
the parent company of Bealls and other department stores, an-
nounced it will reopen all of its stores over the coming weeks to
sell off inventory while under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
little more than $1 billion. The
company owes more than $3.6
million to Nike Inc., its top
creditor, and almost $487,000
to its 50th-ranked creditor, the
footwear company Caleres Inc.
of Missouri.
Michael Glazer, Stage
Stores president and CEO, in
the press release stated the
company has no more ave-
nues to pursue save for seeking
Chapter 11 protection.
“Over the last several
months, we had been taking
significant steps to attempt
to strengthen our financial
position and find an indepen-
dent path forward,” according
to the statement. “However,
the increasingly challenging
market environment was exac-
erbated by the COVID-19 pan-
demic, which required us to
temporarily close all of our
stores and furlough the vast
majority of our associates.
Given these conditions, we
have been unable to obtain
necessary financing and have
no choice but to take these
actions.”
The company also filed a
slew of motions seeking court
orders to continue to operate,
including the ability to pay
employee wages, salaries and
health benefits. Stage Stores in
its press release also reported it
“expects to honor existing cus-
tomer programs, including gift
cards and returns, for the first
30 days after a store reopens.”
Small-business & Ag HAPPENINGS
EO Media Group
Almost 60 Union County
businesses receive loans
LA GRANDE — Almost five
dozen Union County businesses
received Paycheck Protection
Loans through Umpqua Bank.
The bank recently reported
about 45 of the forgivable fed-
eral loans, which are part of the
stimulus package known as the
CARES Act, went to businesses in
La Grande and allowed more than
more than 750 people to return to
their jobs or keep working.
La Grande businesses received
$5.2 million in PPP loans, and
about $300,000 more when to
other businesses in the county,
according to the bank’s press
release. Statewide, Umpqua helped
businesses secure $750 million
in loans so they could continue
paying employees during the
COVID-19 crisis.
According to the federal Small
Business Administration, which
administers the loans, the latest
round of PPP provided more than
$3.2 billion to 35,751 businesses
in Oregon. Through May 1, the
program provided more than $6.8
billion in loans to 49,853 Oregon
businesses.
Clinic construction underway in Joseph
Joseph Branch Railriders
under new ownership
JOSEPH — Joseph Branch
Railriders has new owners.
Robert and Tia Nichols of
Joseph announced last week they
purchased Joseph Branch Rail-
riders from founders Kim and
Anita Metlen of Imbler.
Robert Nichols began his rail-
riding career as a guide in August
2016, served as the branch man-
ager from 2017-19 and purchased
Joseph Branch Railriders in Jan-
uary. Joseph Branch Railriders
will continue to offer two, four
and six-hour round trip pedaling
adventures on the Wallowa Union
Railroad.
According to the press release
from the Nichols, the Metlens
started a national trend when they
opened the Joseph Branch Rail-
riders in 2014. The Metlens will
See, Briefs/Page 3B
Photo by Ellen Morris Bishop/EO Media Group
Hospital personnel, Joseph’s mayor and manager, and construction supervisors break ground for the new,
aptly named Mountain View Medical Clinic building in Joseph. Left to right: Shawn Towne, Larry Braden,
Gary Gray, Teresa Sajonia, Dr. Kirsten Caine, Jenny Word, Larry Davy and Nick Lunde engaged in the cere-
monial shovel work last week. The excavator swung into action this week.