WE ARE ALL SADDENED , LASERMONKS SHUTS DOWN

[Anonymous]

WE ARE ALL SADDENED , LASERMONKS SHUTS DOWN

LaserMonks shuts down; cites economy, competition
SPARTA — LaserMonks has closed. The multimillion dollar ink cartridge business started by monks near Sparta drew national press and was featured in the New York Times.The decision to dissolve LaserMonks Inc. was based on numerous factors, “with financial performance of the corporation’s business being chief among them,” the corporation’s attorney, Kevin Roop of La Crosse, said Friday.Roop said the decrease in financial performance can be attributed to many factors, “but the major contributing factors were the downturn in the economy over the last several years and increased competition in online sales of imaging supplies.”LaserMonks was started in 2001 by the Cistercian Monks of Our Lady of Spring Bank Abbey near Sparta. The monks support themselves and their charitable projects with various ventures. LaserMonks sold products such as ink and toner cartridges online at http://www.LaserMonks.com and by telephone mail order.

On Friday, its website said LaserMonks is no longer in business and “If you are a customer who was waiting for an order, you will be receiving information by mail.”Roop said LaserMonks’ assets and liabilities are being identified. Assets will be sold, and the proceeds will be applied toward the liabilities, he said.LaserMonks’ annual sales grew from $2,000 the first year to $4.5 million, according to a 2008 Associated Press story on the company. By then, it also had started selling some food items and CDs of Gregorian chants. The abbey is nonprofit, and LaserMonks was for-profit, with all net proceeds going to charitable works such as a school in Vietnam that teaches computer skills to children otherwise living on the streets.

Holly Grady, executive director of the Sparta Area Chamber of Commerce, said Friday that she last saw the Rev. Bernard McCoy, who was LaserMonks CEO, in late January. He told her that LaserMonks soon would add a line of baked goods. “He seemed positive about growth,” she said.Grady estimated the chamber office has received about 50 telephone calls since late February from people around the nation who had been trying unsuccessfully to reach LaserMonks. Some of the callers said they had ordered but not received items from LaserMonks, she said.Grady said she was surprised the business closed.Telephone calls and an e-mail from the Tribune to the Cistercian abbey were referred to Roop.

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May 10, 2011 at 9:58 AM