CB&K of Janesville lays off 29 workers
JANESVILLE — One of Janesville’s oldest businesses has laid off about 70 percent of its employees.
Larry Cohen, owner of CB&K Supply, said his company had laid off 29 of its 41 workers.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 50 years of business,” Cohen said of the economy.
CB&K is a supplier of plumbing and industrial supplies.
Locally, it is best known for its plumbing and bathroom fixtures that range from the practical to the elegant.
Business records dating back to 1907 make CB&K Supply one of Janesville’s oldest family-owned businesses.
For many years, the company occupied six buildings on North Parker Drive.
In 2007, the company moved into the former Gilman plant, 3939 Whitney Street, near the intersection of Highway 26 and Interstate 90/39.
The new building gave the company 83,000 square feet for its warehouse, showroom, offices and training area.
Like other building material companies, CB&K Supply has been hit hard by the economic downturn and the decline in housing starts.
In December 2007, the Commerce Department announced that housing starts were at a 16-year-low, and things haven’t gotten better.
Cohen hopes that things will turn around and he’ll be able to call all back all his workers.
“We’re still here; we’re still going,” Cohen said.
Feb 6, 2009 at 2:10 p.m.
Feb 3, 2009 at 3:45 p.m.
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I am one of those layed off by CB&K, GM was a big customer, but not big enough to do this to us. This is directly related to the housing & construction industries. It would be nice to be called back sometime soon, but in this line of work when you do something like this your competetors will swoop in like vultures and grab all of your customers. CB&K will never recover from this one. We will not be brought back. Oh well, we're certainly not the only ones experiencing this problem in Janesville. We're all in this together.
Feb 2, 2009 at 10:36 a.m.
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It's a nationwide problem that go's far beyond GM.
Feb 2, 2009 at 10:18 a.m.
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Personally, I hate that GM left. I believe that we need to continue to seek to obtain additional business here in Janesville, regardless whether GM is here or not.
But I think the article more reflects the national economy and the downturn in the construction industry on a nationwide scale, where more than 100,000 jobs were lost in December alone.
If GM was still here as big CB&K customer, I'm not sure that some of those lay-offs wouldn't have come anyway.
Feb 2, 2009 at 12:24 a.m.
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well,are you happy now? i mean all of you who kept saying good riddance to gm.gm closing has had a great impact on us all. those of you who were so worried about how spoiled gm employees were who cares. alot of people are truly having hardships because of this plant is gone. my question is ae you still happy there gone.
Feb 1, 2009 at 9:40 p.m.
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My hubby, the laid off plumber, was upset to hear about this!!
Jan 31, 2009 at 8:16 p.m.
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G.M. was a big customer.
Jan 31, 2009 at 10:58 a.m.
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Hang in there, guys.
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