Blenko’s reorganization plan has been approved by US Bankruptcy Court Judge Ronald Pearson. Walter Blenko, who will head the reorganized company, said his expectation is that the company will continue to operate and find new markets.
Blenko Glass Co. is about to emerge from bankruptcy, and the company’s owners are confident they can maintain and grow the market for the speciality glass Blenko produces.
US Bankruptcy Court Judge Ronald Pearson approved Blenko’s reorganization plan at a recent hearing. Toward the end of the hearing, Walter Blenko, who will head the reorganized company, said his expectation is that the company will continue to operate and find new markets.
Blenko said the company is focusing for now on finding new customers at trade shows where it can display its products.
Blenko is based in Milton and makes glass for the consumer market and for architectural use. In the past year, Blenko Glass has resumed making reproductions of old-style glass for Colonial Williamsburg, Blenko told Pearson.
“My expectation is that the company will continue to operate,” Blenko said, praising the company’s employees for their loyalty.
Blenko Glass Co. entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year. Company attorney Steve Thomas told the court that the reorganization plan should take effect within 70 days. All creditors who voted on the reorganization plan approved it.
Blenko Glass currently employs 45 to 50 people. In the past, it sold glass through showrooms maintained by sales representatives. As the number of showrooms has declined, Blenko has shifted its marketing to regional trade shows, and markets its glass through a website and an email list.
This year, Blenko Glass has also marketed its products through public television pledge drives.
“The Unsecured Creditors Committee has suggested that Blenko Glass should consider a ‘mass production’ of products to be carried in national chain stores, such as the plan announced by Fenton Glass. The company does not believe that a plan such as the one announced by Fenton Glass is feasible or would be advantageous for Blenko Glass. National chain stores focus on low cost. Blenko is a high-end handmade product which cannot and realistically should not compete with a mass produced product which is manufactured off-shore and cuts corners in the product. At the very best the result would be a high volume at no more than a marginal product,” bankruptcy court documents say.