A former up-and-comer in the area business scene is apparently no more.
Foxfire Printing and Packaging, according to a Delaware Department of Labor posting, employed 150 people at its site south of Newark in the Delaware Industrial Park. The figure roughly matched previous employment estimates for the company.
Federal law requires that mass layoffs have to be filed with the labor department.
Reports regarding the closing have circulated since the company was bought by a competitor, Arkansas-based Vestcom Internationa. Under the new owner, commercial printing operations for local businesses were phased out, with a mass layoff notice made in May of last year.
Vestcom officials did not respond to a previous request for information on the status of Foxfire. A request for comment was also sent today to Vestcom.
Foxfire had found a niche in the rough and tumble printing business by focusing on printing point-of-sale signage and displays used in retail stores.
The need for such signage has increased as consumers and regulators demanded more information on products. In 2013, Foxfire was still in an expansion mode as it secured a large press that could handle its printing needs and held a job fair.
The former Foxfire site is now on the industrial leasing market.
Former CEO John Ferretti, who founded Foxfire and became a pioneer in Delaware in using venture capital to grow the business, was recently named CEO of the Blood Bank of Delmarva. Ferretti left Foxfire after the sale.
In the past several months, the number of vehicles parked at the company’s headquarters south of Newark has decreased as the apparent shutdown continued.
