Comments on: Questions Raised over SSG ‘Bankruptcy’

By: Colin Alsbury

Colin Alsbury — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:14:40 +0000

The motion to dismiss the bankruptcy application appears to be listed for hearing on Thursday 28th August at 11.00am …

By: justflyingkites

justflyingkites — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:23:12 +0000

SSG goes under many different guises. Last time I counted it was seven. What we need to bear in mind is what a previous blogger stated about the Brewers lawyering for a long time.

They have legally ringfenced Durham and Chichester. They have legally separated St Stephen the Great Charity Trust, which is registered with the Charities Commission, from St Stephen the Great LLC. The LLC part of the charity dealt with the bookshops and only the LLC has been declared bankrupt to avoid paying suppliers and dealing with tribunals.

In short I think they may have covered their tracks – they’re good at lawyering. I can’t be too sure about the Australian link.

It’s up to suppliers to decide whether or not they will deal with SSG. It’s up to them to remove stock from shelves.

There should be no place in Christian Bookselling for people like the Brewers.

Like you Phil, I do not want to judge them. Like you I believe that every Christian is called to fight injustice. When Desmond Tutu was accused of using the Bible to fight the injustices of the Apartheid government, he said something like, “well they shouldn’t have given the Bible to us in the first place.” You are right, silence is not an option.

By: Si

Si — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:42:37 +0000

Sorry, I forgot to make my actual point, which is that as far as I can tell this is a fairly standard way of shedding unprofitable parts of your business and debts.

By: Si

Si — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:40:03 +0000

This reminds me of my experiences a couple of years ago with a certain car dealership which targets the Christian market. My wife and I bought a car from them which within three days broke down. We took it back to them under their warranty, but before they finished repairing it, they went ‘bankrupt’. The showroom’s administrator’s (apparently the showroom was a separate company, although this was not made clear to us when we bought from them – the car being for sale on the parent company’s website) were unable to then return our car for over a week. Meanwhile the parent company was bought out by a company which had been registered 6 months previously, had a slightly different name but had up to then not been trading in any manner. This company refused to take responsibility for the warranties of the company which they had just bought, although it seemed that those involved were all the same. Eighteen months later, they continue to sponsor Christian events, and trade on the basis of the name, reputation and ‘more than 25 years experience’ of the previous company.

By: Former SPCK shops: Is SSG’s ‘bankruptcy’ legitimate? « CartoonChurch backup site

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:28:47 +0000

[...] fallout from SSG’s ‘bankruptcy’ continues. Phil Groom asks whether their bankruptcy claim is [...]

By: Former SPCK shops: Is SSG’s ‘backruptcy’ legitimate? » The Cartoon Blog by Dave Walker

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:27:28 +0000

[...] fallout from SSG’s ‘bankruptcy’ continues. Phil Groom asks whether their bankruptcy claim is [...]