CHERRY RIDGE TOWNSHIP -- A company that makes hunting bows has started the process of filing for bankruptcy just one year after moving to Wayne County.
Winchester Archery is closed and has been for a couple of weeks along Route 191 about a mile outside Honesdale. The company has started filing for bankruptcy and it owes a total of more than $1 million to more than 100 creditors, according to legal paperwork.
"We're in production and doing quite well," said Winchester president Tim Barber in September 2014 on WNEP's Pennsylvania Outdoor Life. The company had just moved from New Jersey to a location outside Honesdale and set its sights on a piece of the hunting bow market with the Winchester name.
A handful of employees put the bows together at the facility and the bows were shipped across the country, that was until last month.
"I thought it was a great fit. They were right down the road. We could almost walk the parts down, that`s how close they were," said Steven Seeuwen of Steer Machine Tool and Die Corporation.
Seeuwen's family-run machine shop is out $18,000. He has a box full of parts made for Winchester just sitting at his shop after the company closed up.
"Can't sell it. The logo for Winchester is right there," he said showing off the large pieces.
Winchester Archery had been filling orders from its headquarters for more than a year now. It even had its own cable TV show, Whitetail Frenzy.
Newswatch 16 obtained a copy of the bankruptcy petition from Louisiana where Archery America, LLC claims it owes more than 100 business more than $1 million. With Winchester Archery planning to sell off all its assets, Seeuwen and his company are left in the lurch.
"It's not going to put us out of business, but it's a dent and it's going to hurt for a little while."
Tim Barber declined to comment on the advice of his attorneys who stress it's the company that's filing for bankruptcy, not Barber.
