All's quiet at Comeau Lumber in Meteghan. (CBC)

After a century in business, a lumber mill in southwest Nova Scotia is closing, affecting hundreds of people who rely on it for work.

Greg Shay, president of Comeau Lumber in Meteghan, said it doesn't make sense to stay open any longer while global demand for lumber plummets and prices tumble.

Earlier this week, he told his employees that the mill is shutting down indefinitely.

"They're certainly experienced men. They know the business. So they can see signs of stress and tightness. I'm sure they were all, like I was, working hard to avoid it," Shay told CBC News.

Shay has been running the lumber mill since the mid-1990s. He oversees about 60 employees, most of whom live in the area. Some have worked at the mill for decades.

Office manager Susan Comeau said many workers will have to rely on employment insurance benefits for the time being.

"All I can do right now is just apply wherever I can think of applying," said Comeau, an employee of the lumber yard for the last 20 years. "Friends are helping me. They're giving me ideas, they're giving me business names."

Shay said the shutdown will also hurt loggers and other people in the forestry industry who have been supplying wood to the lumber mill.

He plans to take this time to decide the mill's next move.