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Entrepreneur Revives Moribund Factories in Western N.Y.

Businessman Chris Collins
Jack Speer, NPR
Businessman Chris Collins
A worker at Niagara Ceramics, formerly Buffalo China.
Jack Speer, NPR /
A worker at Niagara Ceramics, formerly Buffalo China.

Western New York has been particularly hard hit by the decline of the U.S. manufacturing sector. In recent years, the region has lost thousands of jobs. But one local entrepreneur is finding success in resuscitating factories in the depressed region that others had written off.

As NPR's Jack Speer reports, Chris Collins has interests in nearly a dozen businesses in western New York, many of them old-line manufacturing firms hit by hard times. Companies in which Collins has a stake include Bloch Manufacturing, a maker of custom cabinets that he and a partner purchased at a bankruptcy court action, and Buffalo China, a 103-year-old factory that was scheduled to close until Collins and a partner stepped in.

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Jack Speer
Jack Speer is a newscaster at NPR in Washington, DC. In this role he reports, writes, edits, and produces live hourly updates which air during NPR programming.