Syracuse.com - Norwegian fishhook manufacturer's presence in Auburn began in 1952 with purchase of local fishhook company

[HuntingNY-News]

This month, Mustad is closing its 54,000-square foot, Grant Avenue plant and moving everything to Miami.

(L-F) Judy Shutter, Bonney Whipple, Linda Walawender, David Burtless, Gary Sherboneau and Steve Tagami are among the few remaining employees of Mustad on Grant Ave. in Auburn. The distribution center for the Norwegian-based company is closing its 54,000 square foot facility the end of this month. Stephen D. Cannerelli

Stephen D. Cannerelli

Caption: (L-F) Judy Shutter, Bonney Whipple, Linda Walawender, David Burtless, Gary Sherboneau and Steve Tagami are among the few remaining employees of Mustad on Grant Ave. in Auburn. The distribution center for the Norwegian-based company is closing its 54,000 square foot facility the end of this month. Stephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-Standard

Auburn, N.Y. -- Stephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-Standard

AMONGthe remaining employees at the Mustad facility in Auburn are Judy Shutter, Bonney Whipple, Linda Walawender, David Burtless, Gary Sherboneau and Steve Tagami.

Mustad Heads South

Facility began making hooks in Auburn in 1950s

O. Mustad & Son has had its hooks in Auburn since 1952.

That will end at the end of this month, when the Norwegian-based fishhook manufacturer closes its 54,000-square-foot distribution center off Grant Avenue. All the Auburn facility’s operations are being relocated to Miami.

A large “For Sale” sign has been placed at the entrance to the business, which is distinguished by a 10-foot steel fishhook attached to the top of a huge slate boulder.

The insides of the building have been stripped. All the historical photos and plaques that once hung on the walls of the plant “have been bubble-wrapped, packaged and are on their way to Miami,” said Steve Tagami, the plant’s sales manager.

At one point, Mustad’s Auburn plant employed 50 workers. Today, 12 remain and only a couple will be relocating to Florida.

Mustad, which up until earlier this year was a family-owned operation spanning six generations, starting making fishhooks in 1877. The company became a world leader, due in large part to its development of technology to make the fishhooks by machine, Tagami said.

The company established itself in Auburn in 1952 by buying out one of its competitors, the Auburn Fish Hook Co., which was located off Clark Street near St. Francis Church. The company made hooks in Auburn through the 1960s and then moved into packaging and distribution.

David Burtless, who heads the plant’s shipping department, began working at Mustad in 1973. There were only seven employees at the time.

In 1976, Mustad decided to turn the Auburn facility into its sole packaging and distribution center for fishhooks sold in the American and Canadian markets. The workforce soon grew to 50 employees.

“Hooks would come in boxes of 100,000 to 200,000 in giant boxes and bags,” Burtless said. He added that initially the hooks were packaged by hand, but later most everything was done by machines.

In 1978, the company moved its operations to Grant Avenue, on the site of a former Bargain Center, and soon expanded. The giant fishhook at the entrance to the plant was put up in 1995.

Like many manufacturers, Mustad began looking for ways to cut costs and keep the company financially secure. Today, Mustad hooks are manufactured in China and the packaging is done in the Dominican Republic, Tagami said.

Mustad was purchased last year by NLI-Utvikling A.S., a Norwegian private investment company. The company has since changed its name to Ard.

Both Burtless and Tagami this week looked back fondly on the Auburn plant’s heyday. They said they’re proud of the company’s products and its international reputation for quality. Tagami noted the high-quality metal wire used to manufacture the hooks is still made in Norway.

“Mustad makes the tiniest fishhooks for trout fishing, up to the big hooks anglers use for sharks,” Tagami said, adding the company makes 20,000 types of hooks.

“We also made grappling hooks used by fire departments and others for (human) body recoveries in the water,” he said.

Burtless remembers the steady business the company enjoyed locally when snagging for salmon was allowed at the Salmon River and other Lake Ontario tributaries.

“We sold so many treble hooks back then,” he said.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog