The Wiz on Ryders Lane
among 26 being closed
By sandi carpello
Staff Writer
MILLTOWN — Expected to close its doors within the next two months, The Wiz scheduled a liquidation sale to begin today in the Ryders Crossing shopping center, Ryders Lane.
The electronics store in Milltown is among 26 locations of The Wiz in New Jersey and New York that will close this fall, according to information provided by Cablevision Systems Corp., of Bethpage, N.Y., of which The Wiz is a subsidiary.
The closings are part of a restructuring and growth plan that resulted from a cash shortfall at the corporation estimated to be between $400 and $900 million, according to a press release from the company.
Cablevision, a telecommunications and entertainment company, will continue to operate 17 select The Wiz locations.
All of these stores are more profitable at the store level.
Of those 17 stores, seven are in New Jersey — Union, Raritan, Brick, Holmdel, Jersey City, Succasunna and Paramus — and 10 are in New York.
In addition to closing the Ryders Lane location in Milltown, Cablevision will close The Wiz stores in Eatontown, Manalapan, Edison, Lawrenceville, Secaucus and Wayne.
According to Laura Conover, spokeswoman for The Wiz, all 26 locations will close their doors within the next two months.
The stores were to begin holding clearance sales this week.
Cablevision’s new growth plan is designed to ensure that the company would be fully funded through the year 2003.
"Cablevision has developed a more conservative plan that we expect will provide stability, clarity and steady growth across all of its operations in the years to come," said Chief Executive Officer James L. Dolan.
He said one of the company’s specific goals is to gain productivity by cutting back on 7 percent of its staff.
"This is the right plan for the future of Cablevision, but it required us to make some very difficult decisions regarding staff," Dolan said.
Conover said however that Cablevision is doing the best it can to incorporate the employees at the stores it is closing into the 17 surviving locations.
A manager at the Ryders Lane store said Tuesday that he was unable to comment on the matter.
He would not say how many people are employed at the Milltown store, and a phone call to corporate headquarters seeking an answer to that question was not returned.
The Ryders Crossing shopping center, owned by Morty Lipkis, is a high-volume commercial location in the area that includes a Home Depot, Target, Staples and other businesses.
Milltown Business Administrator Richard Rydstrom said the closing of The Wiz will not impact on the borough’s tax revenue.
The property owner will still be responsible for paying the same amount of taxes to the borough.