ROCHESTER, N.H. – Prime Tanning Co. says it will close its plants in Rochester and Berwick, Maine, by the end of the year, putting 550 people out of work.

Company President Ken Purdy said the leather processing company will sell its Rochester factory and convert the Berwick facility into a product development center employing about 50 people.

“I’ve been in this business 43 years and this is the most difficult and saddest day I’ve experienced,” he said in making the announcement Thursday.

He blamed the closings on a trend for U.S. shoe manufacturing companies to use cheaper overseas labor. Imports now account for 96 percent of shoe sales in this country, he said.

“There just isn’t enough volume left to sustain us,” Purdy said. “We’ve held out longer than anyone in the states. There is no leather industry left in this country.”

James McMahon, Berwick town manager, said the 68 Prime Tanning employees from his town got the news at a company meeting held at the town hall Thursday afternoon.

He said town officials held an emergency meeting that night to discuss what it would mean for the town of 6,300 people.

“The properties that are owned by Prime Tanning Company in Berwick make up approximately 6 percent of the total town property valuation, and that generates approximately $300,000 in tax revenue,” he said.

McMahon said town officials are most concerned with the impact on former employees, and what sort of continued presence the company will have in the town.

“It’s not a good thing. How much of it goes depends on what they do, what activities they continue to maintain here,” he said. “They own a number of ancillary properties, which it remains to be seen what they’re going to do with them.”

McMahon said he will meet with company officials next week to discuss what the company will do.

“But I’m mostly thinking about how sad it is that after 70 years that they’re stopping production here in Maine,” he said.

Prime Tanning is a family-owned business that began manufacturing leather in Massachusetts more than 90 years ago. The company moved to the area in the 1930s. It was the last of three major leather manufacturers in the area.

“The industry is gone,” said Charlie Myers, president of Leather Industries of America, a trade association.

A grand tradition of craftsmanship is being lost, Myers said. He said it used to be a sign of pride to say that 50 hands went into making each pair of shoes.

“Now that’s a kiss of death,” Myers said. “If it’s labor-intensive it’s not going to happen here in America. That’s the long and the short of it.”

In June, Prime Tanning laid off 70 employees who had worked at the company for four months or less. They had been hired in anticipation of a sales increase that never materialized.

The company will stop taking orders Oct. 1 and phase out production during the next three months, Purdy said.

Purdy said he expects the Berwick plant to shut down by Nov. 2 and the Rochester plant by Dec. 1.

The company will maintain a sales, marketing, customer service, administrative and corporate office in New Hampshire, and continue operations at its plant in St. Joseph, Mo. The Missouri plant employs about 300 people, but is not a finished leather plant.