Day’s Jewelers Transfers Ownership from Family to Employees

Day’s Jewelers, a Portland-based retailer founded in 1914, on Monday said it has transferred ownership of the family-owned business to its 120 employees under an employee stock ownership plan.

In a news release, Day’s described the ESOP as a significant, built-in retirement benefit and said employees are not required to make an out-of-pocket contribution to the plan.

“When considering the future of the company, we weighed the options of selling to an outside buyer or selling to our employees. By converting the business to an ESOP, the future of the business would be kept in the hands of our employees, we could keep our current leadership, and the amazing Day’s family culture we have built,” said Kathy Corey, former co-owner of Day’s.

Day’s joins a number of other high-profile employee-owned companies in Maine, including Cianbro, Moody’s Collision, Clark Insurance and ReVision Energy.

The National Center for Employee Ownership estimates there are currently 6,600 employee stock ownership plans in the U.S., covering more than 14 million participants.

Day’s, founded by the Davidson brothers in Portland in 1914, at one time operated 21 jewelry stores across northern New England. Today the company has eight stores in Maine and New Hampshire, as well as an e-commerce website. Kathy and Jeff Corey, natives of Fort Kent and Madawaska, purchased Day’s from the original founders in 1988.

“Becoming an ESOP and placing our future in the hands of our tremendous employees, will ensure the continued success of the company and culture we’ve built over the past several decades,” said Jeff Corey, former co-owner and vice president of marketing.

As seen in MaineBiz and written by Jessica Hall.