VIRGINIA BEACH--Lillian Vernon, the catalog and internet retailer is closing down the Virginia Beach operation after 22 years of business in the city. That means about 200 warehouse and call center employees will be jobless.
Representatives of the company say sales are dropping, and they'll wind down the Beach operation and let go of local employees by August 2011.
City councilman Bill Desteph says this is tough news to bear in a struggling economy.
'There's other opportunities out there. It's a tough economy but there are other opportunities out there. Give us a chance to work with the situation to see if we can help attract other company in or get someone else in to expand,'he said.
The Lillian Vernon brand name will stay the same. The owner,Current USAis a division of Taylor Corporation and they've shifted their call centers for some of its other brands to other Taylor locations.
