There's a good sized manufactoring building for sale now over on Hounsell Ave near the Laconia-Gilford border that had been the Freudenburg-NOK plant for making silicone injected-iso elastic automobile parts. I have no idea what a silicone injected-iso elastic car part is, but it kept about 130 people busy with jobs that paid maybe 18-22/hour. Fredenburg-NOK is a partnership between Freudenburg, a German company, and NOK, a Japanese company, and it grosses maybe a billion dollars/year. The 2008-2009 slowdown in automobile purchases was the reason for closing the plant due to lack of demand for their car parts.
That had to be a pretty big hit to the local Laconia employees who lost their jobs.
Another big Laconia job loss was the closing of the NH state prison in Laconia.
Where do you go now to find jobs like these in Laconia? Maybe everyone in the area can all go work for the city as City of Laconia employees, or Town of Meredith employees, or State of New Hampshire employees. or Belknap County employees?
A front page article in today's March 31 LaDaSun tells how the Sunoco gasoline/convenience store close to the high school, "Quikstop is latest Laconia convenience store to bite the dust", is closing due to lack of business.
www.laconiadailysun.com