** This article appeared in The Parkersburg News on Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Fenton Art Glass taking orders for spring line

By Kate York, Special to The News

WILLIAMSTOWN — With streamlined production, a narrower focus and continued support from customers, Fenton Art Glass President George Fenton said he hopes to soon reach the day when he can say the 102-year-old business is open for the long term.

Fenton announced Tuesday the company is taking orders for a spring 2008 line and he’s hopeful the business can continue beyond that.

The news came four months after he announced the company would close by the end of the year because of financial troubles.

“We’ve been working continuously to have this come about but before, we didn’t have the answers,” Fenton said Tuesday. “At the time we announced the wind-down (in August), that was the only feasible option. We still have hurdles to get over, but we’re very optimistic.”

That was enough for a celebration Tuesday among local officials worried about job loss and the impact of the closing on the local tourism industry, as well as Fenton collectors and dealers across the country.

“This is the greatest Christmas present I could ever get,” said Williamstown Mayor Jean Ford. “I’m thrilled to death. It’s a shot in the arm for Williamstown, definitely.”

Fenton collector Jim Smith, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., said he had heard rumors there might be a way to revive Fenton but didn’t know for sure until the announcement Tuesday.

“I think it’s absolutely wonderful,” he said. “I really felt for them when the challenges came, and I think this will be great for the company, the employees and the community. A small community like that can’t just re-invent another Fenton Art Glass.”

The closure was expected to affect local businesses, hotels and restaurants that benefit from the tourists the Fenton name draws to the area.

Fenton brings in 30,000 to 40,000 visitors for its factory tours each year and is one of the biggest local tourist attractions, Kelly Blazosky, executive director of the Marietta-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, has said.

Blazosky could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Fenton said the company is able to continue because of a sales surge that occurred when the closure was announced and a re-thinking of how the company should operate.

“The orders we received allowed us to pay down our debt, and we plan to operate in a smaller way and be more restrictive in the items offered,” Fenton said. “We’re also going to work with a smaller group of dealers (about 900).”

Fenton will now be split into two divisions, a move a year in the making, consisting of Fenton USA, with glass made domestically, and Fenton International, with glass and non-glass products that are imported. The two brands will be distinctively marked.

Fenton said the company will focus on the pieces that have sold the best for them, including figurines, very special colors and limited edition pieces and will continue to develop higher art pieces.

Orders will now be taken before production begins for more efficiency and fewer items and colors will be offered at one time.

Fenton said he expects to have four or five offerings a year of about 90 pieces.

“We’ll probably have close to the same number of items in a year but fewer at one time to reduce the number of furnaces used,” he said. “Instead of making 25 colors at one time, we’ll have 10 colors at once.”

The company will no longer have a catalog, said Fenton.

“Pieces introduced in January will not be active in June anymore,” he said.

“Dealers will have a few weeks to make their orders.”

Fenton said he expects the workforce level — currently at 120 employees — to remain about the same, with several marketing positions to be added. The 25 employees laid off in August are expected to remain laid off, he said.

Employees were told of the news at a meeting Tuesday morning but had known it was a possibility beforehand, Fenton said.

“We’ve been meeting with employees every two weeks to talk about any progress and the wind-down,” he said. “Two weeks ago we told them we were trying to get a plan together to get approval to take orders, and (Tuesday) we were able to tell them we had started taking the orders this morning.”

The company is paying off its debt any way possible, Fenton said, including selling any rare or valuable Fenton pieces from management’s offices and other pieces found throughout the building.

“There’s a lot of accumulation of pieces,” he said. “Going into an area above our chemist’s lab, we found color development from the ‘60s and ‘70s and a couple thousand pieces. We’re in the process of cleaning those up and seeing what’s special.”

The business had one auction of some of the items in November and is planning another for February.

“It’s like a garage sale in some respects,” said Fenton. “We want to raise money to get out of debt and survive in the long term.”

Fenton said he doesn’t expect sales to remain at the high level they have since the August announcement that the factory was closing.

“We had a surge, and we don’t expect sales to remain at that level,” he said. “We’re planning with the expectation that sales will be lower than they have been in the last couple of years.”