Last summer, Steve Petts was one of 70 people who suddenly found themselves looking for work.
“A year ago, we all got the phone call … to not show up for work,” Petts recalls.
The 70 were employees of Barbarian Rugby Wear in Kitchener, which abruptly closed its doors as its workers were on summer shutdown – after 32 years in business.
One year later, things are looking up.
A local businessman stepped in to purchase the company and reopened it in the fall – with many employees returning, grateful for an end to their three months of unemployment.
“It was just an opportunity that I couldn’t not take,” says Petts, now the company’s floor manager after 21 years in warehousing and shipping.
Now, for the first time since the shutdown, Barbarian is in hiring mode.
“The future looks bright. We’re not out of the woods, but we’ve stopped the hemorrhaging,” owner Steve Wagner tells CTV News.
Barbarian plans to hire 10 more people, bringing its staffing complement back up to the 70 it was at under its previous owners.
The company makes 400 rugby-style shirts per day – a number they hope to increase to 600 – and sends them to customers across North America.
