Bassett shutdown formalized

State regulators posted formal notice of W.E. Bassett Co. Inc.”™s plan to lay off more than 120 people in Shelton, more than six months after it was acquired by Pacific World Corp.

W.E. Bassett sells personal grooming products like tweezers and the fingernail clippers that made it famous, while California-based Pacific World markets the Nailene brand of artificial nails and related products.

William E. Bassett started the company in 1939, and at one point the company was a dominant employer in the Naugatuck River valley.