Maine factory that makes Lincoln Logs to shut, setting off frantic

Maine factory that makes Lincoln Logs to shut, setting off frantic

Lincoln Logs are among a handful of basic toys made in the USA with American bushes, however that’s doubtless to change in a matter of weeks.

Pride Manufacturing — the Maine factory that makes Lincoln Logs and other wooden merchandise — is closing in April after dropping its greatest contract, to make cigar ideas for another company, The Post has discovered.

Pride Manufacturing in Burnham, Maine, is closing in April, the company said. Google Maps

That leaves toymaker Basic Fun scrambling to discover a new factory to manufacture the century-old model that was based by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, John, and has been a staple in households’ toy chests for many years.

Production of the $10 million model will doubtless transfer abroad and value customers about 10% more, according to Jay Foreman, chief government of Boca Raton, Fla.-based Basic Fun.

“We are desperately looking for a vendor here that manufactures custom wood parts,” he told The Post. “We are hoping that someone will purchase the factory or buy the equipment, but we are not counting on it for this year.”

The transfer comes as toy corporations have been exploring methods to convey manufacturing to the US, as the overwhelming majority of toys are made in China.

The century-old Lincoln Logs set is known as after US President Abraham Lincoln. Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock

Lincoln Logs are made in the US from American wooden. Dennis M. Swanson – inventory.adobe.com

Demand for Lincoln Logs, the toy named after a sure US president, started to decline after Toys R Us went bankrupt in 2017.

The loss of the toy chain hit the toy business like an earthquake.

Lincoln Logs had reached $14 million in annual sales before that chapter and was beginning to climb again up in 2024, Foreman said. Last yr, demand started to dip because of “overall inflation and consumer uncertainty,” according to Foreman.

Lincoln Logs go for $50 to $70 for a 120-piece tin, relying on the time of yr.

Jay Foreman is the chief government of Basic Fun, which sells Lincoln Logs among other basic toy manufacturers. AP

The units will doubtless value $5 to $7 more this yr because of US tariffs on Chinese-made merchandise, Foreman said.  

Basic Fun, which makes other basic toys – including Lite Brite, Care Bears and Tonka Trucks – has initiated a 45-day seek for a US provider however it’s also getting ready a back-up plan in China to ensure that it may possibly produce sufficient toys for the holidays, Foreman said. 

The plastic items that include Lincoln Log units – including roofs and other equipment like livestock and farmers – are made in China. They are shipped in bulk to the US and packed into the packing containers and tins of wooden elements that have been made by Pride Manufacturing.

The Burnham, Maine, factory made the units beginning in 2014. 

Lincoln Logs was based by the son of celebrated architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Corbis by way of Getty Images

For the majority of Lincoln Logs’ life, the merchandise have been made in the US, however manufacturing moved to China in the Nineteen Nineties because it value less to make them there, Foreman said. Plastic elements have been added to units round that time, he added.

Some 115 factory employees will lose their jobs at Pride Manufacturing when it closes.

It’s owned by New York City personal fairness agency Centre Partners Management.

“After our largest customer made the decision to relocate their sourcing for cigar tips, our highest volume product, the facility became financially unviable,” the agency said in an announcement.

“While this is not the outcome Pride Manufacturing or Centre Partners wanted, this customer’s change in position is forcing the closure of this operation.”

The buyer, according to sources with data of the state of affairs, is John Middleton, a downmarket cigar maker and subsidiary of tobacco conglomerate Altria Company.

Altria didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark about about why it yanked its enterprise from Pride, which is the only cigar tip operation in the US, according to sources. 

The ideas are made from birch wooden and are bought as a part of John Middleton’s Black & Mild cigars, which include FDA-approved flavored wooden ideas. 

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