Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 26, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 7 make all the difference REL ATIONSHIPS At Country Bank, we're made a little different. We have the expertise, resources, and tools you need to turn opportunities into growth. It's not just banking to us. We're here to make a difference for your business and we believe that it starts with a great relationship. Layoffs would be our first expense cuts In what it called a cost-saving initiative, Marlborough firm Akoya Biosciences on June 7 eliminated two C-suite roles, terminating its chief people officer and chief medical officer. Also in a cost-mitigation move, CommCan, a Millis-based cannabis company, cut down its physical footprint by closing its Southborough dispensary on May 31, avoiding layoffs of any staff. When polled online, the plurality of WBJ readers said they would first turn to staff layoffs as a way to cut costs. If your company had to confront a downturn, where would you be likely to turn first for cost savings? F L A S H P O L L Eliminating certain high-salary positions 9% Laying off a percentage of our employees 41% Reducing our leased space and rental costs 11% We consider other ways of reducing costs. 39% Auburn hotel property sold for $7.6M e Comfort Inn property at 426 Southbridge St. in Auburn was sold on June 8 for $7.6 million. e seller of the 71-room hotel was 426 Southbridge St., LLC of Quincy, which last purchased the property from Giri Hotels LLC, registered at the same address in Quincy, in 2016 for $5.4 million. e buyer was a Delaware corporation, Somerset Hospitality LLC d/b/a Comfort Inn 426 Southbridge. e company has a New Hampshire address. e hotel was managed by Giri Hotel Management of Quincy under the for- mer owner. Local unemployment drops in Leominster, Athol e local unemployment rate in Central Massachusetts communities remained low in May, including falling further from April figures in the North Worcester County region. e unemployment rate in the Leominster-Gardner metropolitan region was 2.5% in May, down from 2.9% in April and 4.1% in May 2022, according to data released June 20 by the Massa- chusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. In the Athol micropolitan region, the unemployment rate fell even further to 3.0% in May, down from 3.7% in April and 4.1% in May 2022. e unemployment rate remained unchanged from April in the Greater Worcester metropolitan region at 2.5% in May. at figure is down from 3.7% in May 2022. e Framingham metropolitan area remained unchanged from April, too, at 2.0% in May. at's down from 3.1% in May 2022. Statewide, unemployment is at 2.8%, according to BLS data released June 16. e national average was 3.7% in May. FDA signs off on Bristol Myers' latest Devens manufacturing venture Bristol Myers Squibb, a global pharma- ceutical firm with headquarters in New York, has received U.S. Food & Drug Administration approval for commercial cell therapy manufacturing in Devens. e Devens facility is the company's newest cell therapy manufacturing site. e new site will allow expanded produc- tion and increase supply of the therapies. e facility is 244,000 square feet and is the company's second expansion of its 89-acre Devens site. "e Devens facility integrates the latest state-of-the-art tech- nology in the industry with top talent in the Boston area," Karin Shanahan, BMS executive vice president, global product development & supply said. W

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