3M, the science-based, innovation company, notified employees last week that it would be closing its Bainbridge Island branch by the end of the year.

Located on Ericksen Avenue, 3M currently employs 31 people, not including contract workers, and provides services in digital signage for companies around the Puget Sound area.

“It’s always a blow to the local economy when you have 30 to 40 jobs that support local families,” said Andrea Mackin of the Bainbridge Island Downtown Association.

Jacqueline Berry of 3M’s corporate offices explained that the company makes routine budget adjustments and this year concluded that they would discontinue operations on Bainbridge.

The Bainbridge branch was purchased by the Minnesota-based company in 2008 from Mercury Online.

At the time, Mercury president and CEO John Eisenhower said in a statement that the industry had outgrown its founders. The Puget Sound Journal reported that the company’s growth had exploded in sales from $677,000 in 2001 to more than $16 million in 2004.

Five years later, the company will be closing its doors.

Berry explained that while employees will be working through the end of the year, their focus will now be on transitioning their customers to other providers.

A severance package will be available for those employees.