In August 2007, Fenton Art Glass president George Fenton announced plans to close down the 102-year-old company for good, citing economic pressures attributable in part to the escalating price of natural gas. However, a rush of orders from dealers and collectors keen to own one last piece of Fenton allowed the Williamstown-based company to fight on. In December 2007, the company announced it would stay in business. "The spurt of orders that we got gave us both extra financial resources so that we could deal with additional portions of our debt and obligations, and some time to make additional changes to the way we do the business", Mr. Fenton said. The more streamlined company has reduced the number of pieces and colors in its catalog, Mr. Fenton said. It is also using its Web site to communicate with dealers, cutting down on production costs for the catalog.
