December 8, 2008

By KATE YORK

Marietta Times, Marietta, Ohio


WILLIAMSTOWN — A year after the announcement that Fenton Art Glass had survived a financial crisis and would remain open, the company's president said he's anticipating a very tough next 12 months.

Fenton is in better shape than a year ago when, four months after announcing it would close, President George Fenton said the company would instead streamline, restructure and keep its doors open. But Fenton says 2009 is expected to be a challenge. "My advisers say 2009 is going to be a year just for survival," Fenton said Friday. "It's going to be difficult. The expectation is that people aren't going to be spending money on non-essentials."

Fenton said he expects Fenton Art Glass can weather the economic storm if company officials can successfully get the word out that the business is up and operating. "A big problem we have is that people still think we're out of business," he said. "There were a number of newspapers that ran stories that we were closing and never ran anything that we ended up surviving. It's really important for us to be able to explain what happened to dealers and collectors, why it happened and how we survived. If we can do that, I think we'll be OK."

Fenton made the announcement in August 2007 that the then 102-year-old business would be closing by year's end due to financial troubles. Then, last Dec. 4, he announced that a sales surge after the news enabled the company to pay some debt and Fenton Art Glass would offer a 2008 line after all.

In order to do so, the company planned a narrower focus on pieces that sold the best, streamlined production and decided to work with fewer dealers and to offer fewer items and colors at one time. There would no longer be a catalog, with dealers instead having to make orders within a multi-week window several times a year.

The plan made in December 2007 for the company is working well overall, Fenton said. "Obviously, we're still here and that's a step in the right direction," he said. "A number of changes we made have made a difference in our ability to survive and reduce our costs. In general, we're on target for 2008."

Suzanne Myers, 43, of Parkersburg, who was browsing the Fenton gift shop Friday, said as a customer she hasn't noticed many differences. "I'm still happy with Fenton," she said. "I still come and buy gifts and look around. I still love the glass."

The company has paid down some debt and restructured more in the last year, with the only major issue left being pension plans, Fenton said. "We're still resolving that," he said. "We're working with the government agency responsible." Production levels are expected to stay the same in 2009, or increase slightly, and the 120-person workforce is expected to remain in place.

The glass company will continue to offer products and then produce just the amount ordered, a change that has allowed a reduction in the use of furnaces and natural gas. However, this year the company will also have small groupings available all year. "We would have some new customers coming in in the middle of a cycle and there was nothing to buy," Fenton said. "So we'll have something all year now."

The company is also exploring some options for working with recycled glass and possible diversification into the non-gift industry, said Fenton. "There's nothing there we can count on yet," he said.

What's definitely coming up are some projects with new artists, two airings on QVC Jan. 16 and another in late February or early March and the airing of the Fenton Art Glass episode of "Dirty Jobs" sometime in the new year.

"That's an exciting thing," Fenton said. "It not only highlights the workers but gives us a good opportunity to tell our story."