Jupiter Images Lays of 100 Peoria Workers

WMBD/WYZZ-TV—PEORIA--Another Peoria business closes its doors. Jupiter Images, originally known as Dynamic Graphics, employed a total of 400 people worldwide.

   Company CEO Alan Mechler tells us they lost 40% of their business after what he calls a "technology internet revolution" changed their competitive landscape.

  Mechler says the images the company used to sell for $300 a piece could now be purchased for as little as $3 by competitors. Thus leaving the company no other option but to sell the company to Getty images or go bankrupt.

  All 400 worldwide employees from England to Australia will be laid off between April and September.

  One hundred of those employees are based in Peoria.

  One employee, Shannon Toft, says she's only lost her bread and butter, but also a host of memories  that her grandfather, Milton Bartell,  spearheaded in 1964 when he opened the business as Dynamic Graphics.

Toft began working at Jupiter three years ago as a single mom when she had nowhere else to turn.

“They took me in and became my savior at that company and I never dreamed I’d be walking back in there, and now it's over,” Toft chuckled in disbelief.

  Toft says her last day at Jupiter images will be April 1st.

  Click on the video box to view Toft’s story.