The owner of Herb Philipson's insists he will keep fighting for his 250-plus employees and the community as the company goes through a Chapter 11 restructuring.

Guy Viti spoke to WIBX on Thursday, about a week after he closed two Herb's stores - in Oswego and Newark - saying those two locations had high overhead and were unable to support themselves. What results from that situation, he said, is a drain on the rest of the company.

''I'm fighting as hard as I can and I have employees who are hard working, good people. I wasn't going to let the company fall apart that way.''

Viti said many of the full time employees were being relocated to other Herb's locations in Liverpool and Watertown.

''We’re doing all the right things and turning the corner,'' Viti said, ''Herb Philipson’s can still sell (in the retail business), and we wanna be here for the community.''

Herb's currently has seven locations in Central New York, including New Hartford, Rome, Herkimer and Oneida. Inventory from the Newark and Oswego stores has been moved to the New Hartford and Watertown locations, Viti said.

 

More From WIBX 950