BREANNA HANLEY/THE EXPRESS Woolrich Outlet Store along Park Avenue in Woolrich will hold a liquidation sale from May 19 through May 21.

WOOLRICH — The majestic Norway spruces lining the road into this tiny north-central Pennsylvania town signal something unique and special existed here.

Townspeople planted them in the 1930s to honor a visionary and community-minded executive who guided Woolrich Inc., the famous outdoor clothing maker and town namesake, into a modern era of prosperity.

But the company’s fortunes began to fade in the 1980s, resulting in a progression of layoffs, production offshoring and eventual foreign ownership.

Now, it will finally exit the region where it began in 1830.

The Woolrich outlet store — once a major tourist attraction in its own right — will soon close, with a clearance sale underway this week, the European owner has announced.

An online auction this weekend will sell off equipment and historic items from the sprawling brick mill that produced clothing — much of it in Woolrich’s signature “buffalo-plaid” pattern — worn by generations of hunters, soldiers and outdoor enthusiasts.

The company employed about 1,000 local residents in its heyday, and more than double that when counting employees at a half-dozen plants in other states.

“It’s very depressing to know it’s gone,” says Doris Jodun, who worked there for 30 years and still lives a few doors from the mill that laid off its last production workers several years ago.

On Wednesday, the Woolwich company was seemingly everywhere yet nowhere in this Clinton County community 115 miles northwest of Harrisburg.

The chirping of birds and clanging of a flagpole chain had replaced the hum of machinery at the former mill, which stretches the length of several football fields. At one end, a few employees of a business that leases space came and went. Across the vast, empty parking lot, the entrance to the former office at 1 Mill St. was locked, with faded COVID-19 health guidelines from early 2020 still attached.

Nearby stood the community center created by the company. Down the road was Woolrich Park, another gift from the company, its paths dotted with old plaques honoring Woolrich executives. Even a faded sign urging people to buckle up did so on behalf of the company.

The outlet store was closed for the day, with employees pulling up in pickup trucks and unloading items. They said they were under strict orders from the Luxembourg-based owner not to answer questions about the company.

Yet the store continued to draw people hoping to shop or take it in one last time.

Ron Moser came from Mechanicsburg — his first visit in 35 years.

“I just wanted to take a walk-thru,” said Moser, 64. “When you went hunting, you wore Woolrich clothing.”

Rona Houser, 50, of Lock Haven, recalled winter clothing, chamois shirts and buffalo-plaid items purchased over the years, sometimes at “jam-packed” holiday sales. Flannel shirts from the store were popular during high school. “That was back in the grunge years,” she said.

Jessica Demaris of Lock Haven said: “I will miss the warm socks I would buy every year at Christmas time for people.”

Owen Haines of Lancaster County stopped in Woolrich for a different purpose Wednesday — to mail a birthday card to a friend in York County. His friend will enjoy seeing the Woolrich postmark and immediately recognize the sender, he explained.

Haines, 84, has a cabin north of Woolrich and has frequented the town and store since the 1960s. He noted the company had “impeccable” quality control, resulting in bargain-price “seconds” that were fine by normal standards. He told of hunting in a vast expanse of forest owned by Woolrich that was long open to the public.

“It’s really something to see,” he said of the Norway spruces along the road into town.

During the early 1800s, the region was dominated by lumbering, and John Rich began supplying local families with fabric needed for clothing and blankets. He soon opened a mill to produce woolen clothing for lumberjacks, hunters and trappers. Woolrich garments were eventually worn by soldiers from the Civil War though World War II and during Antarctic expeditions led by Adm. Richard Byrd.

In the early 1900s, a descendant, M.B. Rich, began marketing Woolrich products to a middle class in need of clothing for camping, trips to national parks and outdoor pursuits such as skiing. Rich was also beloved as a pillar of church and education, and for leaving employees a large sum in his will.

He died tragically in 1930, suffering a heart attack and fatal car crash outside town while returning with copies of a company history he had written. The Norway spruces were planted in his honor.

An article in Mountain Home Magazine includes these 1930 passages from The Lock Haven Express: “The village of Woolrich has almost every modern convenience enjoyed by any large city… Houses are built singly, affording ample air and sunshine. A modern Graded school building of brick and steel construction was erected in 1929, with a capacity of 200 pupils. An up-to-date general merchandise store, known as the Woolrich Company Store, is conducted for the convenience of the people of Woolrich and also is the headquarters for the post office.”

In 2016, a final burst of hope came to Woolrich. The European owner announced plans to reinvigorate the brand, including capitalizing on its heritage. It spoke of modernizing and increasing production at the Woolrich plant, which by then produced only woolen blankets.

But the plans didn’t materialize and the plant shut down in 2018, with local production finally succumbing to globalization and competitors such as L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer and Columbia Sportswear.

Mike Flanagan, the CEO of the Clinton County Economic Development Partnership, recalls how the outlet store once drew tens of thousands of visitors per year, including people from all over the country. A distribution center in nearby Jersey Shore that also housed a store closed years ago.

The closing of the outlet store will “basically mark the end of Woolrich in our county, in our community,” Flanagan says.

As the company faded, a few prospective buyers inquired about its buildings and properties, according to Flanagan. But its age and remote location make it a “tough sell, which is another disappointing aspect of this.”

He also says there was talk several years ago of creating a museum or historical attraction, but it didn’t gain traction. Although the auction this weekend means the chance to obtain artifacts may have passed, Flanagan hasn’t given up hope for something to mark the company’s history.

“It’s something we should acknowledge, because they were here for a couple hundred years in our community, making products and also employing a lot of people through the decades,” he says.

Woolrich had previously donated the park, which also has pavilions and ballfields, to the community, which formed a partnership to maintain it, with the donation also ending fears the park would be developed.

Europe-based Woolrich spokeswoman Laura Salvetti said the decision to close the Woolrich store was “a difficult one.” “Unfortunately, visits to the outlet had been declining for some time and only worsened during the Covid-pandemic,” she said by email.

She said the other U.S. outlet store, based in Woodbury Commons, N.Y., and the flagship store in New York City will remain open. Woolrich continues to sell goods via its website and operate stores in about 40 locations around the globe, with most located in Italy, Germany and Japan.

But in Woolrich, Pa., the company will exist mostly in the memories of people including Doris Jodun, 80, who went to work for the company in 1968, eventually becoming secretary to the president. She says stories of the company’s generosity toward the town and workers are true, telling of company-owned houses rented or sold to employees at below-market prices.

She and her late husband eventually bought one of the lavish houses built for family members and executives, getting it at a fraction of the asking price. She can glimpse various Woolrich buildings from her immaculately landscaped yard, which she still tends on her own.

“We had a good life here — a very good life,” she says.