MILO – A gun care and shooting accessory business that has operated for 17 years has closed its doors for at least two weeks because of financial problems.

“We’re in trouble financially,” Ted Bottomley of Brownville, OxYoke Originals founder and president, confirmed Wednesday.

“At the moment, we have a two-week shutdown until May 16,” Bottomley said. He said he anticipated that the company would reopen at that point, either under his ownership or someone else’s.

“We’re making every effort to keep it open [and in Milo],” Bottomley said of the business which employs 24 people. He said the company is for sale and there are two interested buyers.

A series of catastrophes are behind the financial woes, according to Bottomley. The company suffered great losses during the 1998 ice storm, which caused the collapse of one building and the removal of a large brick chimney, he said.

Later, two fires, one of which demolished the company’s machine shop, caused even further damage. The company was unable to recoup about $1.75 million in losses which were not covered by insurance, he said.

It took more than two years to settle the insurance claim for the fire that destroyed the machine shop, Bottomley explained. He said he had to hire a private insurance adjuster to help with the process, but still settled the case at a loss out of frustration.

Bottomley, who started OxYoke Originals in 1970 in Connecticut, said the company was further taken aback when its largest customer, who supplied Wal-Mart stores, stopped ordering in 2003 because of a warehouse backlog problem at Wal-Mart.

“It’s been a struggle for us,” Bottomley said.

Although the company now has about $1 million in back orders, Bottomley said he can’t get the cash to get the company’s supply chain up and running. His company has a lot of proprietary products that cannot be sold elsewhere, he said.

Whatever happens to the company, Bottomley wants to make sure his employees are protected. They are a “class act, they’re hard-working and willing workers,” he said.

“We’re very concerned about finding someone who will buy the company and keep it here” so the employees can continue working, Bottomley said.