Bush Industries in Jamestown.

One day after saying it had no public information to share, Bush Industries has closed its doors.

Employees were told during a 9 a.m. meeting Thursday that the Jamestown plant – and longtime headquarters of the company – was closing. Rumors had been running rampant throughout the community for the past week that Bush was closing. Facebook posts have said employees have been told the Jamestown plant is closing. As of Thursday, Bush Industries officials are neither confirming or denying the community reports.

In an email reply to The Post-Journal’s questions regarding a possible closure, an eSolutions employee replied to The Post-Journal’s question.

“At this time, we don’t have any public information to share,” the employee said while providing an email address for continued contact.

The response didn’t necessarily dispel the rumor. Less than 24 hours later the public was notified.

The New York State Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires covered businesses to provide early warnings of closures and layoffs to all affected employees, their representatives, the Department of Labor and others. Through Thursday afternoon there has been no entry in the state Labor Department’s WARN database regarding the Jamestown Bush Industries plant.

Paul Bush founded Starline Housewares in 1959 in Little Valley. That company eventually became Bush Industries, transitioning to Bush Brothers Products Corporation in 1961 and then Bush Industries INc. in 1975. The company’s headquarters and manufacturing operations moved to Jamestown in 1984.