PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The 170-year-old company that makes Cross pens now has a flagship retail store at its new Providence headquarters.
The new A.T. Cross Co. store opened Wednesday.
CEO Robert Baird says the company's recent move from suburban Lincoln, Rhode Island, to the Foundry complex near downtown Providence is part of a broader strategy to boost talent and reinvigorate the luxury pen brand.
Rhode Island has offered the company $1.9 million in incentives based in part on plans to add 35 new jobs in coming years. Baird says he previously considered relocating to Connecticut but preferred staying in Rhode Island, where the company was founded in 1846.
Most of its pens are now manufactured in China. It's owned by New York private equity firm Clarion Capital Partners.