History of Raymond's Profile Metal building

Tag : matching shoe

seacoastonline.com
RAYMOND — The former Profile Metals building near Exit 5 offRoute 101 has a decades-old history and was once a manufacturingcenter for one of the world's largest shoe producers.
Today, the building is owned by Exeter-based Hampton Machine RealtyCorp. Hooksett vehicle reseller Guzman Andrada has recently beenapproved to relocate his business to the Raymond site. Although twosmall businesses still operate in the Profile building, localresident Michael Quintal, a relative of the building's formerowner, said the still-undecided Argo proposal could return thefacility to its former function as a major local business.
Buster Hammond, a local resident who worked as road agent from the1960s to 1980s, recalled that the plot of land where the Profilebuilding is now was "an eyesore of a landfill" in years prior to1950. He said that a Rochester-area developer built the structurearound 1951, and many people remember the building as the site ofthe now-defunct Harmon Shoe factory, a major local employer inyears past.
After that venture closed in the mid-1960s, Quintal said it laterbecame a manufacturing and storage facility for the Nike shoecompany. At the time, he said Nike also had a plant in Exeter, andthe local building remained a Nike holding and employed many peopleup until the mid-1970s.
He recalled that Nike's presence in town provided more than jobs,and the lure of "free shoes" was a boon to area teenagers as thebrand increased in popularity throughout that decade.
"I still remember when I was in my 20s, they'd haul the damagedshoes out to a landfill," Quintal said. "It was a gold mine. Allthese teenagers, and some adults, too, would be digging throughlooking for matching sneakers. The sneakers were still mostly inreally good shape."
Quintal and others said they are not sure exactly when Nike lefttown, but they agreed that the popular sneaker company had largelyleft the area by the late 1980s. State Rep. Frank Bishop,R-Raymond, said Profile occupied the building for a number of yearsbefore relocating three or four years ago. The Profile MetalForming company now advertises with a Newmarket address.