Nearly a year ago, the former P.W. Minor factory on Treadeasy Avenue in Batavia quietly started producing high-end men's shoes again with a small work crew.

The new company, Artisan Boot & Shoe, is owned by Nicole Porter, the granddaughter of local businessman Pete Zeliff, who helped rescue P.W. Minor in 2014 from closure and operated the company for more than three years before selling the company and the factory to a group of investors.

That company couldn't make a go of it and Zeliff foreclosed on the property, the equipment, and inventory and after 150 years of business in Batavia, P.W. Minor ceased to exist.

Later that month, in October of 2018, Porter approached her father with a business plan to start a new shoe business. She acquired from him the equipment for Goodyear welted boots (which describes how the sole is welted and sewn to the top of the shoe) and hired 10 former P.W. Minor employees and took over the contracts with about a half-dozen shoe companies to continue making top-quality men's boots for them.

Porter said the company is growing, doing well financially, and she hopes the day will come when they can expand production, start making women's boots again, and perhaps launch their own boot or shoe brand.

The company leases space from Custom Vehicle Outfitters, which recently acquired the property from Zeliff in order to expand operations from its current location on Ganson Avenue. The company is currently remodeling the front of the building while Artisan Boot & Shoe operates in the factory space at the rear of the building.

At 10 a.m. today (Oct. 5) Batavia's oldest continuously operating company, shoemaker P.W. Minor, ceased operations. Forty-two workers were laid off last week; 40 people lost their jobs today.

Local businessman Pete Zeliff, who, in partnership with Andrew Young, acquired P.W. Minor in 2014, still owns the company's headquarters and factory building at 3 Treadeasy Ave., as well as the production equipment. He was leasing the building to Tidewater + Associates. Zeliff carried the paper on the loan for Tidewater's purchase of the company earlier this year.

This afternoon, Zeliff said he foreclosed on the company last week.

Last week, P.W. Minor CEO Hundley Elliotte announced the company would eliminate 45 jobs, ending production of its welt boot line, but would continue with orthopedic shoe production.

This morning's decision to shut down the company completely came as a surprise to everybody.

Zeliff said he has no plans to reenter the shoe business, but he said there is some hope that investors can be found to resurrect at least the orthopedic line of shoes, and perhaps the boot line, and he believes Tidewater is working on finding new investors. We were referred to Elliotte for any questions about the future of the company.

We have an email out to Elliotte requesting comment.

This afternoon a customer of P.W. Minor's forwarded an email to The Batavian from Brian Benedict, VP of sales for P.W. Minor, that read, "I regret to inform you that as of 10AM this morning, PW Minor has ceased operation. There will be a formal announcement via email, but since you are drop ship customers who rely on us, I wanted you to know as soon as possible so you can modify your sites accordingly."

UPDATE -- Press release:

P.W. Minor LLC, a Batavia, NY footwear manufacturer, has ceased operations as of today and laid off all employees.

All assets of P.W. Minor LLC, have been transferred to our senior creditor Batavia Shoes LLC, per an agreement signed today. 

“Our focus through this entire process has been on our employees' well-being. We want to thank them for their dedication, loyalty and hard work.” said P.W. Minor CEO Hundley Elliotte. “We would also like to thank the NYS Dept. of Labor, the Genesee County Workforce Development Board and the local business community for their responsiveness and offers to help get our affected employees back to work as soon as possible..”

P.W. Minor, founded in 1867 and located in Batavia, New York, is the second oldest footwear manufacturer in the United States and the maker of orthopedic and diabetic athletic, dress and casual shoes.

Press release:

P.W. Minor LLC, a Batavia footwear manufacturer, is undergoing a business operation restructuring and has idled their Goodyear Welt manufacturing line.

This decision resulted in the layoff of 45 full-time employees. The P.W. Minor plant in Batavia will stay open and will continue to manufacture orthopedic and diabetic footwear.

The decision to idle allows P.W. Minor to focus its attention to its existing American Made orthopedic and diabetic product line as the market for this type of footwear is growing in the United States and around the globe.

These products will continue to be manufactured in Batavia.

“Our focus through this entire process has been on our employee’s well-being. We want to thank them for their dedication, loyalty and hard work.” said P.W. Minor CEO Hundley Elliotte.

“We would also like to thank the NYS Department of Labor, the Genesee County Workforce Development Board and the local business community for their responsiveness and offers to help get our affected employees back to work as soon as possible. When the time is appropriate in our business cycle, we will re-engage our Goodyear Welt manufacturing capabilities.”

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The move does not affect the Batavia Bootery retail store at 210 E.Main St., a multi-line store featuring quality brands including P.W. Minor footwear, said owner Dave Howe this morning.

"We have nothing to do with P.W. Minor as far as ownership is concerned," Howe said. "We're a completely separate entity ... and we are moving forward."

About P.W. Minor

P.W. Minor, founded in 1867 and located in Batavia, New York, is the second-oldest footwear manufacturer in the United States and the maker of orthopedic and diabetic athletic, dress and casual shoes.

"We will have a full statement at the end of business tomorrow," Benedict said. "I am not in a position to comment with any finality. Things are still pretty fluid."

Earlier this week, P.W. Minor officials filed a "warn notice" with the state that layoffs and/or plant closing were possible. 

In the warn notice, the state was informed that potential layoffs could mean a loss of 42 jobs or all 82 jobs at the plant due to "economic reasons."

P.W. Minor was saved from closing in 2014 when Pete Zeliff and Andrew Young acquired the plant. In February of this year, the investment firm of Tidewater + Associates bought it from Zeliff.

He said CEO Hundley Elliotte is in town this week working with management on a restructuring plan. Some of the options include both keeping the plant open and retaining all current employees, Benedict said. 

"As of today, there have been no layoffs," Benedict said. "By filing the warn (notice) we were just following the letter of the law."

All of the work crew today was sent home and they are not expected to return to 3 Treadeasy Ave., Batavia, tomorrow. Benedict said at this point he doesn't know when they will start working again.

"We will know a lot more by Wednesday afternoon," Benedict said.

In the Warn Notice, P.W. Minor informed the state potential layoffs could mean a loss of 42 jobs, or all 82 jobs at the plant and cited "economic reasons" for the potential layoffs.

Elliotte's investment firm Tidewater + Associates acquired the shoe company from Pete Zeliff in February. Zeliff and then partner Andrew Young saved the 151-year-old company from certain ruin in 2014.

Under new ownership, Batavia's oldest company is going to get lean.

That doesn't mean layoffs at P.W. Minor. Far from it. It means implementing a process of production that eliminates waste and increases productivity.

"Lean manufacturing is nothing fancy at all, but it is a set of fundamentals that if you follow them you know your production will go way up," said Hundley Elliotte, the new CEO of P.W. Minor. "It has been proven time and time again. It's not the solution to all problems but when you're in a challenging manufacturing environment and you have price pressures and cost pressures and all those kinds of things, lean is a very good way to root out waste and boost productivity."

Elliotte is a partner with Tidewater + Associates, the investment company that acquired P.W. Minor from Pete Zeliff earlier this month. Zeliff and then-partner Andrew Young saved P.W. Minor from certain closure in 2014. More than 100 jobs that were outsourced to China were returned to Batavia as a result and Zeliff instituted a program of equipment upgrades to the plant, including increasing automation.

Tidewater's acquisition of the company, Elliotte said, is just the next step in a process of growing the company, Elliotte said during an interview with The Batavian this morning.

There's no plan to cut the workforce, move the production out of Batavia, or do anything other than grow, Elliotte said.

"We felt like there was something powerful here in the fact that this company has been here for so long," Elliotte said. "I think you bring bad luck and find yourself in a bad spot when you break up something like that. It's almost like firing a legacy coach. You know when you watch it happen, whether it's Bobby Knight or Bear Bryant, or whomever, when they leave it's always a void. You know it's hard to pick up the momentum again."

The reception to the transition, which took place at the beginning of the month, seems to have been positive among employees, Elliotte said.

"We felt like the response was very positive and I think everyone knows this has been a journey and there's still some journey left," Elliotte said. "There's still choppy waters out there. We have to work hard. We have to get better. We hope to get better every day but I think I think everyone's bought into that.

It's only been a week since the lean manufacturing process was introduced and it hasn't spread yet throughout the entire organization but already there are charts on boards that provide employees with metrics to measure their performance.

Employees are also being trained on processes that will boost productivity.

An example shared by Elliotte was establishing a process for getting a machine ready for production before the next shift so when the shift starts, production can ramp up quickly.

"It's just about getting that discipline of how we operate and making clear who has responsibility for what and making sure that it's done, so that when the machine is supposed to be running you know it's running," Elliotte said.

The process of tracking and measurement helps motivate employees to meet goals, he said.

"Everybody wants to do a good job," he said.

To help keep these jobs in the United States, Empire State Development provided P.W. Minor with an incentive package and the Local Gateway Development Corp. provided the company with a loan. Zeliff said as part of the acquisition deal he is personally paying off the loan.

Tidewater was attracted to P.W. Minor as an acquisition target because it already fits the profile of the kind of companies the investors like in their portfolio -- sustainability and promoting U.S.-based jobs.

The welt constructed by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company for P.W. Minor boots, for example, means they will last a long time. That's good for the environment, Elliotte said.

He would like to see the Batavia plant eventually become sustainability certified. It's what consumer surveys and buying preferences say a large portion of the market wants, Elliotte said, and financially there is little reason for a company like P.W. Minor not to pursue that course.

"I'm not necessarily a big environmentalist but we all care about the planet," Elliotte said. "There are other things we can do. You know course A is better than course B and you know each of them has the same kind of financial outcome; course A is much more sustainable so do that.

"It's something that people care about," Elliotte said. "It's not that it has to overwhelm the business, but if you can run the business that way, every day make yourself more environmentally sustainable, that's a good thing, right?"

He said Tidewater is also committed to creating and sustaining U.S.-based jobs.

"There's no reason for P.W. Minor to go away and just to make all those boots in China," Elliotte said. "I understand that it makes sense in certain situations where you have you know a lower price point shoes or things like that, but there's no reason not to make boots that retail at $250, $300, or $400 in the United States. That's kind of where we've drawn the line and are trying to do our part to keep those jobs here."

Submitted photo and press release:

On March 7 Kristine McCarthy (in photo above) will be part of Genesee Community College's Fashion Business Speaker Series sharing her inspiring story of dedication, hard work and success. McCarthy currently serves as a senior vice president, operations lead at P.W. Minor.

P.W. Minor has been making shoes in America since 1867 and operates the second oldest shoe factory in the country.

McCarthy's presentation will take place in room T102 of GCC's Conable Technology Building at the Batavia Campus from 1 - 2:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public; however seating is limited.

Those wishing to attend can RSVP by calling (585)345-6830 in advance. If you are unable to attend the event, McCarthy's presentation will also be streamed live at www.genesee.edu/home/event-streaming/.

For the past decade McCarthy has led product development teams at Coach Inc. and Ann Inc. working with and managing the development process from design conceptualization to supply chain management and product profitability. McCarthy's learning and experience has taken her to New York City and China, and she now enjoys working in her hometown of Batavia.

McCarthy said, "Believing that anything is possible and not backing down from any challenge, I have delivered consistent results throughout my career on a global scale and I am proud of the work I do every day."

She graduated from GCC in 2001 with an associate degree in Fashion Merchandising and then transferred to Buffalo State College to earn her Bachelor of Science in Fashion Textile Technology in 2003. After 12 years in NYC, McCarthy currently lives in Batavia with her husband Brian McCarthy (also a 2001 GCC graduate) and their two sons, Jack and Ronan.

P.W. Minor CEO Peter Zeliff will transition to board member and Hundley Elliotte of Tidewater's leadership team will become managing CEO.

"We have made significant progress turning this business around," Zeliff said in a press release about the sale. "I now feel that it is the right time to step away from my day-to-day involvement and I'm extremely confident in Tidewater's ability to guide this business to the next level of success."

That's good to know and no doubt a relief for Zeliff, who saved Genesee County's oldest business from doom when he and then-business partner Andrew Young bought the business in mid-2014. It was set to close due to slumping sales and a frumpy product line, despite having outsourced 100 jobs to China in a bid to keep it going.

Zeliff and Young poured investment into P.W. Minor, located at 3 Treadeasy Ave. in the city, and worked with state and local officials to bring back the  jobs lost to China. Young subsequently left the company; he's a real estate broker, investor and county legislator representing District 4 (towns of Batavia and Stafford).

It was a big task. Production facilities were upgraded and automated. New designers were hired and the product line was revamped. Shoe molds were brought over from Italy, world-renowned for its shoes and leather goods. The price tag to do all this was estimated at $7.5 million.

Empire State Development pledged to provide up to $1.75 million in performance-based tax credits, including a $900,000 state-backed aid package to re-shore the China jobs and add jobs. Though some layoffs were made in the interim.

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce named P.W. Minor its 2015 Business of the Year.

"We are excited to be a part of the resurrection of this American icon," Zeliff told The Batavian in an interview before the 2016 awards ceremony.

He also admitted there was a sizable learning curve for him; he's been in the landfill-gas-to-energy business. And he expressed frustration with the bureaucratic slowness of state government.

Although the company's reputation was built on its orthopedic shoe line, rebuilding the brand and the business in that market has proven to be difficult. It currently operates three key brands -- P.W. Minor; Abram Boot Company; and the Batavia Boot & Shoe Company. A subsidiary -- Minor Brothers Boot and Shoe Manufacturer -- develops and makes products for several leading brands in the United States.

Tidewater's Elliotte says "We believe there are significant opportunities to scale P.W. Minor's social and environmental benefits through its current core brands and to embark on new developments.

"The organization's legacy of craftsmanship and capabilities to deliver product sustainability can be leveraged to expand and grow the brand base."

Tidewater has a history of more than 80 years of focusing on "small cap brands and businesses," to which it applies a unique loyalty business model and operational expertise to accelerate and scale, according to a statement released by the company.

While the company's reputation was built on its orthopedic shoe line, rebuilding the brand and the business in that market is proving difficult, Zeliff said. Meanwhile, the "white label" shoe business is growing and shows promise for more growth.

"White label" means making shoes on the specifications and under the brands of other shoe companies.

Last week, the company laid off eight employees and more cuts are possible, Zeliff said, based on how things go in the coming months.

"We're cutting costs," Zeliff said. "Sales are down. Revenue is down. I can only keep writing checks out of my own pocket for so long. It's ridiculous to keep doing it."

Zeliff said many of P.W. Minor's former customers dropped the shoe line during the company's previous ownership and winning them back has proven tough. Many of those customers have gotten used to buying shoes made in China and seem willing to accept buying a new pair of shoes twice a year instead one pair every two years of a better quality shoe.

And those orders come in two and three shoes at a time, which make them more expensive to produce.

With "white label" contracts, P.W. Minor is able to produce larger runs of particular shoes at higher margins.

It can take 18 months, though, to land a new white label contract. That's how long it took P.W. Minor to go from introduction through samples to production for K-Swiss.

Zeliff said there are more white label deals coming. There's one company P.W. Minor has been working with for 20 months which will likely place an order soon. Another potential contract could mean increasing production by 40,000 to 50,000 pairs of shoes a year.

Before the recent layoffs, the factory was producing 180 pairs of shoes a day, sometimes 200 pairs. Since the layoffs, the factory has hit a production target of 200 pairs a day consistently.

"I think it opened some people's eyes," Zeliff said. "I've told them there will probably be more layoffs in the near future. Now all the production picks up. Nobody wants to be the guys getting laid off."

The 150-year-old company was about to close in 2014 when Zeliff and then partner Andrew Young stepped in saved it. Zeliff has been focused on revamping the business since, bringing in top marketers and designers and investing in new equipment.

In 2015, the company ended all production in China, bringing those jobs back to Batavia, with assistance from New York.

The other part of the P.W. Minor showing promise is the Abram Boots line and Batavia Boot & Shoe Company collection, introduced last fall. Both brands are showing sales growth, especially the boots, he said.

"I think we're on a good path," Zeliff said. "Has there been some pain? Yeah, but I've been sticking 200 grand into the business each month to keep it going and I don't know anybody else in this town who would keep on doing that."

The p.w. minor factory was open last night for a "friends and family night" with tours, refreshments and a chance to buy a new pair of p.w. minor shoes.

The event was part of p.w. minor's rollout of new product lines, the Abram Boots and Batavia Boots and Shoes.

Above, CEO Pete Zeliff shows off a pair of Patriot boots to Brian Kemp. And below, Ron DiSalvo, the former owner of DiSalvo's Shoes, a retail outlet he operated in Downtown Batavia from 1967 to 2007.

Retail shoe sales are returning to Downtown Batavia through a partnership between p.w. minor and Charles Men's Shop.