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HARTLAND — E-cigarette smoke juice manufacturer Johnson
Creek Enterprises has suddenly closed after going into
bankruptcy.
In a
Monday blog post, Chief Operating Officer Heidi Braun
apologized to customers, saying “I’m so very sorry that
we’ve failed you.” She also wrote that the company hopes
to come out of bankruptcy to make products again, but
that is uncertain.
The
company closed Tuesday, although its website was shut
down at 2 p.m. Monday.
In
May, the company sought help from Hartland village
government, where it was located, and Vaping Coalition
of America to be protected from Food and Drug
Administration regulations imposed on the e-cigarette
and vaping industry.
In
July 2015, CEO Christian Berkey said he was anticipating
an influx of competitors into the e-cigarette market,
but he said at the time that the company expected to
employ about 120 people by 2016. The company was founded
in 2007 by Berkey.
“First, we want to sincerely thank you for supporting a
small business from Wisconsin for the last 9 years! We
have the greatest customers in the industry; your
loyalty to us has been unmatched and we leave with a
deep sense of gratitude. Our business has always been
about saving lives by giving adults the option to choose
an alternative to traditional cigarettes. You have
become our FAMILY,” Braun wrote Monday.
She
also encouraged people not to give up on the e-cigarette
and vaping industry and suggested other companies to
support.
“Our
hope is to come out of bankruptcy and continue to make
and sell products, but this is yet to be determined and
we have no timetable to determine this,” she wrote on
Monday.
Email:
kmichalets@conleynet.com |
