Today is something of a bittersweet moment in Rochester and western New York. A longtime icon of business here is closing its doors, relocating its production and operations elsewhere. It’s solemn in the sense that Sentry Safe has been a member of our community for over 85 years. Watching the move is cause for pause, as it makes us think about the impact on the individuals and families along with the local businesses that will no longer be working with the Sentry name.
The new parent company is MasterLock, of Wisconsin, which has engaged Optimation and other companies to support the relocation of the business. Nearly all former employees of sentry are choosing to remain in Rochester, a testament to the strong ties to the community and the attraction that the Rochester area and the Finger Lakes have to those of us who live here.
The Sentry brand has been synonymous with value, innovation, and quality. Those of us who have had the pleasure and honor to work alongside Sentry over the years know firsthand that this is a tribute to hard work and dedication. The fact that the vast majority of Sentry employees chose to remain here bodes well for the area, as that talent is so valuable and will pay dividends for many other local employers in the future.
Our company remains committed to not only maintaining ties to those individuals but of course working with MasterLock to ensure that the move, now just completed, continues to pay dividends for them and continue to produce the fine quality products that the company has acquired.
The other half of the bittersweet equation means that this great local talent is going to remain local, and find themselves in other great local companies that will benefit from their contributions. Knowing that they remain our neighbors and colleagues is some consolation for the loss of the Sentry name locally, but after all it’s people who make the difference, and these people, our friends, are here to stay.
Our congratulations and best wishes go to MasterLock as they move forward and continues to produce fine products, and also to those former Sentry employees who blaze new trails in new work going forward.
