The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation said Friday it was shuttering its mail-order catalog next spring and laying off 16 employees.
The organization is moving the operation entirely online.
The Web store, www.williamsburgmarketplace.com, will be marketed through e-mail campaigns, in-store promotions and through traffic from www.colonialwilliamsburg.com, the foundation said.
“After extensive analysis and review, and despite the improvements we’ve made over the last year in reducing our catalog-related expenses, the steady decline of the catalog business results in a level of financial risk that is not acceptable, given the Foundation’s other priorities,” said Jim Easton, products division vice president, in a statement. “The changes that we are making will enable us to focus on our retail and licensing businesses, and reduce our overall cost of operations.”
The Foundation said it will continue to offer products at retail.
