MERRIMACK – Brookstone Inc., a high-end specialty retailer, has laid off about 3 percent of its workforce, including about 75 people at the company’s Merrimack headquarters, according to some reports.

A company spokesman described the move as part of a reorganization plan that “included eliminating positions that represent less than 3 percent of the company’s total workforce.”

On Monday, the spokesman wrote in an email statement, “Brookstone implemented a restructuring plan designed to reposition the company for continued growth and success. This reorganization will streamline our operations and allow us to invest further in product development, our retail stores, our website and customer service.”

The spokesman didn’t specify if the layoffs only affected workers at the Merrimack headquarters or whether they were more widespread.

An unidentified individual emailed The Telegraph earlier Monday, writing simply, “massive layoffs at … Brookstone Merrimack today … 75-plus people.”

A one-time contractor for Brookstone Inc. said Monday that some of his former associates confirmed there had been layoffs at the retail giant’s Merrimack corporate headquarters.

Jeff Cutler, a freelance communications consultant, trainer and tech journalist, said he contacted a friend in the company’s art department after spotting comments on social media sites referring to layoffs. “I jumped on to instant messenger to ask him about it, he said about 25 percent (of the workforce at the Merrimack headquarters) was let go Monday,” Cutler said.

He said he thought at first the layoffs targeted the creative department, with which he was closely associated during his roughly nine-year stint with Brookstone.

“There are about 280 people in the whole place,” he said. “I got the sense it was mostly designers and a proofreader who were let go from the creative department.”

Brookstone was founded in 1965 and opened its first retail store in Peterborough in 1973. The company states on its website that it has 1,214 employees in all, a figure that likely doesn’t include Monday’s layoffs. Its corporate headquarters is at 1 Innovation Way.

The firm operates close to 300 stores, mostly in the Northeast and New England but as far as Puerto Rico. New Hampshire’s three stores are in Nashua’s Pheasant Lane Mall, the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester and the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem.

In its third-quarter report for 2012, which was posted on its site in mid-November, Brookstone announced its consolidated net sales increased nearly 22 percent, to just over $95 million, over the same time period in 2011.

Touting itself as an “innovative product-development
company and multi-channel lifestyle retailer,” Brookstone also stated its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization (EBITDA) loss for third quarter 2012 improved nearly 16 percent to $5.5 million compared to third quarter 2011.

The firm also reported its third-quarter net retail sales in 2012 represents a $3.8 million, or 6 percent, increase over third quarter 2011 figures.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6443 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com. Also follow Shalhoup on Twitter (@Telegraph_DeanS).