Category Archives: News

CLC Wholesale now live on PubEasy, and improved trade terms for retailers

Posted on March 10, 2012 by | 1 Comment
CLC Wholesale: PubEasy Login Page

CLC Wholesale: PubEasy Login Page

CONGRATULATIONS to CLC Wholesale, now live at PubEasy.com. The anticipated news (officially announced March 1st) broke yesterday on facebook, with an initial post in the Christian Authors, Booksellers and Publishers, group, followed by a post from CLC Wholesale themselves on the UKCBD facebook page.

Registered PubEasy users can now check wholesale availability of and place orders for titles from more than 400 Christian publishers and imprints stocked by CLC, including Authentic Media, BRF, Christian Focus, Church House, CLC Publications (of course), Crossway, CWR, DLT, HarperCollins, Lion Hudson — the list goes on, and on — Sovereign World, SPCK,  Zondervan…

CLC Wholesale: Contact Info

CLC Wholesale: Contact Info

The PubEasy system, however, is ISBN based: CDs and DVDs are therefore not currently listed, but the (much improved) CLC online shop — clcbookshops.com— is now running from the wholesale warehouse; listings for CDs, DVDs and some other non-ISBN product can be checked there. Orders for these — as well as for all items in the PubEasy catalogue — may be placed in the time-honoured ways by phone or email: in the words of Chris Magee, Head of CLC Wholesale UK, “We are still of course available to be phoned, as we love to talk to our customers.”

IMPROVED TRADE TERMS: CLC Wholesale’s base discount on most items has been increased from 35% to 38%. Trade customers who were already on 38% should now be receiving 40%. This does not apply to Bible packs and other low discount items. The minimum order for carriage paid delivery remains at £50 trade.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Christian Suppliers, Distribution Services, News, Wholesale Services

Tagged , , ,

Launching a new trade distribution partnership: Convivium Press and Alban Books; and you’re invited to the party

Posted on March 9, 2012 by | 1 Comment
Convivium Press and Alban Books Trade Distribution Partnership: Launch Invitation

Convivium Press and Alban Books Trade Distribution Partnership: Launch Invitation (pdf, 184kb)

CONGRATULATIONS to Convivium Press and Alban Books on their new trade distribution partnership, to be officially launched on Wednesday 28th March 2012 at St Paul’s by Westminster Cathedral bookshop — and you, gentle reader, are invited to a drinks reception from 6pm to 7.30pm to mark that launch.

RSVP is not essential but would be appreciated: full contact details may be found on the Launch Invitation flyer (pdf, 184kb).

Describing themselves on their About Us page, Convivium Press write:

Convivium Press, an editorial endeavor inspired by Judeo-Christian humanistic values, strives to promote diversity of thought and affirms perspectives and proposals that can enrich community togetherness and encourage reconciliation among all peoples.

Convivium Press chooses books that reflect and are consistent with the intended meanings of the Latin expressions convivialis and convivium, that is, that human beings and cultures can only attain their full capacity within an episteme framework of human relations, coexistence, togetherness, reconciliation, fraternity, and recognition.

Convivium Press intends to build bridges and create bonds between different cultures by providing a space in which there can be an exchange of perspectives and knowledge tools through the publication of English and Spanish books in the fields of theology, Biblical and Semite studies, philosophy, literature, and Christian spirituality.

Convivium Press become Alban Books’ seventh distributed publisher alongside:

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Christian Book Trade, Distribution Services, News

Tagged , , ,

CLC London: Celebrating 66 years of Christian bookselling in the nation’s capital

Posted on March 7, 2012 by | 1 Comment

CONGRATULATIONS to Petra Nemansky and the team at CLC London on their recent thanksgiving celebration for 66 years of Christian bookselling in the nation’s capital: a remarkable achievement, made all the more remarkable by the fact that they’re still there, doing it, when so many other Christian bookshops are falling by the wayside:

CLC London: Praise the Lord for a great Thanksgiving Celebration!

CLC London: Praise the Lord for a great Thanksgiving Celebration!

Not only ‘still there’ in fact, but — as reported last year — relocated to a prime spot just a stone’s throw from St Paul’s Cathedral, hence the party; and with some 70 people packed into the shop, with singing led by Chris Magee, Director of CLC Wholesale UK, Petra herself speaking about the shop’s history, and Phil Burnham, CLC UK Director, delivering a speech about CLC’s mission — to list just a few highlights — it was definitely a party to write home about.

Outlining the shop’s history and the reason for celebrating, Petra said,

The celebration of our new place coincides with the 66th year of CLC’s ministry in London. The first shop at Ludgate Hill was set up in 1946, just after WWII. After that we had a shop in front of St Paul’s Tube station. Twenty years ago we moved to Holborn Viaduct where we had a shop with two trading floors. It’s great to find a place so close to St Paul’s Cathedral again.

CLC London is but one small part of the much larger global picture: across the world, CLC International operate more than 180 bookshops in 58 countries. Emphasising CLC’s status as a missionary organisation, Phil Burnham explained why the shops matter:

In some of these countries we are the only Christian bookshop. It’s not easy to be a Christian in these nations. CLC is a registered charity. With the profit we make, we can support the ministry in countries where it is not yet self-sustaining. We believe that God works through Christian Literature, here in UK and all over the world.

Addressing the UK situation, Phil went on to acknowledge the challenges of survival in the current marketplace:

Nowadays people buy more from the internet. We do have a CLC internet shop, but there’s a lot of competition and people are not always aware that with CLC they are buying from a charity.

Guests departed with goody bags containing a selection of  free books courtesy of Christian Focus, Joining the Dots and Kingsway.

Discover more…

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Christian Bookshops, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

News Roundup: The Good News on Friday Edition

Posted on March 2, 2012 by | 5 Comments

NO DOUBT there are many more good news stories kicking around out there waiting to be told, but today, three will suffice…

Update, 10/3/2011: Follow on report from the team at Christian Resources Leicester: Fluttering Flags and Tummies

By Royal Appointment,
Booksellers to the Queen…

YES, I EXAGGERATE: it’s just a Royal Visit, and I guess there’s no guarantee that Her Majesty and her entourage will visit the shop itself in her visit to St Martins House in Leicester on March 8th, but I hope you’ll forgive my feeling a tad excited about this — after all, St Martins House is where I spent five years of my life back when it was Alderman Newton Boys School; and no, I’m not going to tell you how long ago that was. Over to Christian Resources Leicester for a (slightly) more balanced perspective:

Christian Resources Leicester: The secret is out – It’s Official!

Christian Resources Leicester: The secret is out – It’s Official!

We’ve  all been keeping a very hard secret here at Christian Resources.  It’s been very, very hard… but now we can share our excitement and enthusiasm with everyone…

“It has been announced today that Her Majesty the Queen is to visit Leicester Cathedral and St Martins House during her visit to Leicester on March 8th. Her Majesty and His Royal Highness Prince Philip will be joined on the visit by the Duchess of Cambridge.”

We’ve known for a few weeks… Janette’s been busy looking at Jubilee memorabilia online… the decorators have been touching up the paint… and we’ve all been planning what we’ll wear on the day…  We’ll be giving you some more details in the next few days.. but here’s the rest of the official announcement from the Leicester Diocese website…

So what are you waiting for? Click through and read it!!

CLC Wholesale join PubEasy – Official Announcement

ALMOST AS EXCITING, Bowker — the people who run PubEasy.com — have now officially announced CLC Wholesale’s participation in the PubEasy programme: wholehearted congratulations to Chris Magee, head of CLC Wholesale UK, and his team on a job well done!

PubEasy Newsflash: CLC Wholesale UK to Join PubEasy as an affiliate

PubEasy Newsflash: CLC Wholesale UK to Join PubEasy as an affiliate

From the announcement, CLC Wholesale UK to Join PubEasy Community:

London, United Kingdom – March 1, 2012 - PubEasy®, the global enquiry and ordering service for the book industry, today announced that CLC Wholesale UK will join its growing, international e-community of booksellers and their suppliers. CLC Wholesale UK is a leading Christian book wholesaler serving Christian bookshops and retailers within the UK and throughout the world. PubEasy is a service of Bowker, an affiliated business of ProQuest.

“We’re very pleased to welcome CLC Wholesale UK as a PubEasy Affiliate,” said Liz McNaughton, European sales manager of PubEasy. “Having them in our community increases the range of Christian titles within PubEasy and so provides a more compelling offer to Christian booksellers. We believe PubEasy will also enhance the service offered by CLC to its customers, enabling them to conduct business anytime, 365 days a year.”

“Joining the PubEasy community provides a valuable e-commerce offering to our customers,” said Chris Magee, head of CLC Wholesale UK. “This will give the CLC product line increased visibility and provide a faster and more efficient service to our customers. We look forward to serving both our UK and International customers through PubEasy.”

SPCK Shortlisted for IPG Specialist Consumer Publisher of the Year Award

CONGRATULATIONS to SPCK Publishing on being shortlisted by IPG, the Independent Publishers Guild, for their Specialist Consumer Publisher of the Year award:

They’re up against Accent Press, Osprey Publishing and Quiller Publishing, but there can only be one winner, to be announced at a gala dinner on March 8th. Now there’s a clash of dates: an exciting day awaits…

→ 5 Comments

Posted in News, Wholesale Services

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Microshops: the way forward for the UK’s Christian bookshops?

Posted on February 16, 2012 by | 3 Comments

CONGRATULATIONS to Richard Greatrex as the next step forward for his recently announced bespoke bookstall service to churches begins to take shape in Bath in partnership with agreatread.co.uk, bringing the two worlds of online bookselling and local shopping together.

From a report issued earlier today in the Bath Chronicle:

Bath Chronicle, 16/02/2011: New chapter for a Christian bookshop

Bath Chronicle, 16/02/2011: New chapter for a Christian bookshop

The first of a new series of Christian microbookshops is to be set up in Bath.

The sales at a city centre church will fill a gap left by the sudden closure of the Wesley Owen store in St James’s Parade.

It is being launched by the Rev Richard Greatrex – who managed the store – and online bookseller David Wavre.

The microshop will carry Mr Wavre’s A Great Read brand and will be followed by more in churches in Bristol, Radstock and Frome.

The pair are in the final stages of negotiations over the location of the mini-bookshop.

Mr Wavre said: “Each shop or stall will have a range of top titles, perennial favourites and newly-published books available as well as the monthly comprehensive A Great Read magazines, detailing hand-picked newly-published and established titles.”

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Christian Bookshops, News, People News

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Unity Christian Bookshop, Petersfield, saved for another year

Posted on February 15, 2012 by | 3 Comments
January 2012: Christians Save Bookshop!

January 2012: Christians Save Bookshop!

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone at Unity Christian Bookshop, Petersfield, on the success of last year’s appeal for funds to prevent the shop’s closure. The successful outcome, securing the shop’s future for another year, was reported last month via the PACT (Petersfield Area Churches Together) website:

January 2012: Christians Save Bookshop!

A big thank you from the manager, trustees and volunteers at the bookshop in Folly Lane, Petersfield.

[T]he Lord has blessed us indeed! Our campaign raised sufficient funds to cover the shortfall of £5,000 and enough to kick start the shop going into the New Year. So the Unity Bookshop will remain trading. Our Christian friends from far and wide have stepped forward with their financial support and prayers, without which this would have been a very different story.

The news of this successful outcome was warmly received at the PACT Annual General Meeting at St. Peter’s Church last week.

The report concludes with an invitation for readers to visit the shop — but if you live too far away to visit in person, not to worry: you can discover Unity Christian Bookshop on facebook.

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Christian Bookshops, Independent Booksellers, News

Tagged , ,

St Albans to lose second Christian bookshop in as many months

Posted on February 14, 2012 by | 2 Comments
St Albans Diocesan Resource Centre 'to close in the light of increased competition from online booksellers'

E-Round, Feb 2012: St Albans Diocesan Resource Centre 'to close in the light of increased competition from online booksellers'

THE DIOCESE OF ST ALBANS has announced that its bookshop at the Diocesan Resource Centre at Holywell Lodge, the Diocesan Headquarters, is to close down, leaving only a limited library service in its place once shop stock has been sold off. Following the recent closure of the St Albans branch of Quench, this leaves the St Albans Abbey Bookshop and Gift Shop as the City’s sole surviving Christian retail outlet.

Citing the now ubiquitous complaint of “increased competition from online booksellers” as the reason for the closure, the announcement was made last week in February’s issue of E-Round, the Diocesan newsletter, and goes on to pay tribute to Ron Upton, the bookshop manager:

Diocesan Resources Centre
The Diocese of St Albans’ Resource Centre at Holywell Lodge is to close in the light of increased competition from online booksellers but will continue to offer for loan a variety of teaching materials and equipment used by churches and schools across the Diocese. Remaining stock will be offered at reduced prices.

David Nye, Chair of the St Albans Diocesan Board of Finance, thanked the departing Resource Centre Manager, Ron Upton: “Ron is known to dozens and dozens of people across the Diocese for his knowledge of the book and magazine trade, his devoted ministry as a Reader and his friendliness. He has contributed an enormous amount. He goes with many prayers for the future.”

Susan Pope, Diocesan Secretary, added, “I pay Ron warm tribute for what he has given over the last ten years. He will be much missed by colleagues at Holywell Lodge and beyond.”

“To survive, shops have got to find a way forward…”

Echoing concerns about online competition, Peter Southern of Ichthus Christian Books, Northwich, has issued a wake-up call to the local community via the letters page of his local paper, the Northwich Guardian, Plea to support Northwich’s shops as they face threat from the internet:

Why use up petrol, and time to make a journey to a shop that may not have the item required in stock when you can sit comfortably at home, browse a site that has every book or item in its store and that can send it within 48 hours? Plus the internet site is open 24 hours whereas a shop is only open 9am-5pm a mere eight hours.

To survive, shops have got to find a way forward, to make it a more viable proposition. Now Kindle has arrived, and once more customers are using the internet to acquire the books they want rather than visiting a bookshop. It’s a very difficult problem that shops have got to solve, and at present we at Ichthus are searching for answers. One thing we do know is that locals need to use the shops they have left or the high street will become a thing of the past.

Answers, please, not on a postcard but in a tweet, status update or comment below…

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Christian Bookshops, News

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Bookseller Report: All but one Wesley Owen Bookshop likely to close

Posted on January 31, 2012 by | 12 Comments
Update, 13/3/2012
Wesley Owen Bromley ceased trading on Sat 10/3/2012; official announcement here:
wesleyowen.com/info/pdfs/bromley.pdf

Update, 7/3/2012
Wesley Owen Derby ceased trading on Sat 3/3/2012; official announcement here:
wesleyowen.com/info/pdfs/derby.pdf
The Bookseller, 31/1/2012: Bulk of Wesley Owen bookshops to close

The Bookseller, 31/1/2012: Bulk of Wesley Owen bookshops to close

ACCORDING TO A BOOKSELLER REPORT published this morning, all but one of the Wesley Owen bookshops now look set to close as the company focuses on its online trading rather than the bricks & mortar stores:

Bulk of Wesley Owen bookshops to close
31.01.12 | Lisa Campbell

Wesley Owen has announced it may close all but one of its chain of Christian bookshops, saying the bricks and mortar business has been overtaken by digital and online growth.

The chain closed its Bath and Bristol branches at the weekend, resulting in 18 job losses, and has told staff and suppliers it intends to “significantly reduce its high street presence.”

Currently 15 employees are in consultations about the future of their jobs and the company’s retail director, Steve Mitchell, told The Bookseller: “We think there will be one – but maybe two or three stores left.”

The report goes on to quote Steve as saying,

Making the decision to do this has been as hard as decisions get. It is partly to do with the economic position, but even if we had waited until the economy got better it is a brave man to bet against the online business which is so rapidly growing. We have seen our online business growing significantly – 3-400% in the last two years – and we recently started selling e-books and that has taken off rapidly too.

and concludes with the observation that “it is our view that the charity or independent model is now the best option to maintain physical Christian stores.”

→ 12 Comments

Posted in News

Tagged , , , , ,

Light Shines on in the Darkness as more Redundancies and Shop Closures hit Wesley Owen

Posted on January 25, 2012 by | 6 Comments
Update, 26/1/2011: Official announcements about the closures have now been posted by Wesley Owen: Bath | Bristol (pdfs, identical apart from the store locations and dates of closure)
The Bath Chronicle published a report on Weds 25/1/2012: Christian bookshop closes its doors

NEWS EMERGED YESTERDAY of further redundancies at Wesley Owen as the Bath and Bristol stores closed their doors for the last time; and whilst in certain respects that news — coming so soon after the weekend’s news of more job losses at TMD — might seem beyond worse, all is not yet lost: Richard Greatrex, former manager of the Bath store, has branched out independently with his own venture, Windflower Books.

Describing the project in a welcome message on the company’s newly launched website and blog, Richard writes:

Windflower Books has been in existence since 2007 as a small scale concern selling secondhand and remaindered theological books on the internet, supplying bookstalls for communities and events and publishing small runs of specialist material.

2012 sees a change in the Windflower venture as we seek to supply the needs of individuals, churches and communities in the South West who have lost their own local Christian Bookshops.

From a small start we hope to develop a system of bespoke bookselling tailored to the specific needs of each community we are working with. We are in the process of negotiating our first sites for enhanced bookstalls in local churches. Keep checking our blog, our Facebook page (Windflower Books) or our Twitter feed (windflowerbooks) for further details…

If you live in the South West and would like Richard to provide bookstall services for your church, do give him a shout: full contact details are available on the facebook page; and if you live further away, just hit that facebook Like button anyway to cheer him on.

Richard, I salute you: may the Lord bless you richly in this venture, and may your bookstalls be many and more popular than you can even begin to imagine.

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Independent Booksellers, News, People News, Wesley Owen

Tagged , , , , , , ,

From bad to worse in Carlisle as yet more staff face job losses at TMD

Posted on January 24, 2012 by | 3 Comments

HOPES THAT the recently announced sale and privatisation of Trust Media Distribution would secure the future and bring stability to the organisation have been crushed as yet another round of redundancies has been announced. Writing in the Carlisle News & Star on Saturday, Matthew Legg, the paper’s Business Editor, describes staff as shocked by the news:

News & Star, Carlisle, 21/1/2012: Job Under Threat at Carlisle Book Firm after Takeover

News & Star, Carlisle, 21/1/2012: Jobs Under Threat at Carlisle Book Firm after Takeover

JOBS UNDER THREAT AT CARLISLE BOOK FIRM AFTER TAKEOVER
Exclusive by Matthew Legg Business editor

Last updated at 10:21, Saturday, 21 January 2012

Seventy workers at a Carlisle bookseller have been told their jobs are under threat after the firm was taken over.

The new owners of Christian book distributor Trust Media – formerly Send the Light (STL) – have begun redundancy consultations with staff as they look to streamline the business.

The firm has not revealed how many jobs will eventually go, but the figure will not exceed 20 because the company has not entered the formal 90-day consultation period required to lay off more than 20 workers at once.

Bosses say the cuts are essential to secure the future of the Kingstown business and that they hope the bulk of the job losses will come through voluntary redundancies and retirements.

Staff are said to be shocked at the news. They are expected to discover their fates next week.

The report goes on to cite Paul Davies, a member of TMD’s senior management team, who describes the situation as “an unfortunate necessity” to ensure that the company continues trading in Carlisle “securing a substantial number of jobs in the process.”

In a further report by Lisa Campbell in the Bookseller yesterday, Pete Barnsley states:

Since January there has been a big injection of capital so for the business this has been a really positive move. But it has also brought with it a review of the whole business which includes consultations with staff. There will be a degree of staff reduction but we don’t know how many yet. It will be fewer then 20 positions.

Both reports refer to the company’s change of focus as it seeks to work with a wider customer base beyond its traditional role as primarily a supplier to the Christian retail trade, mentioning WH Smith and Amazon in particular. Inevitably, however, the current situation begs the question of whether or not a “streamlined” company with fewer staff will, in fact, be capable of serving that wider — and more demanding — marketplace as well as continue to efficiently serve its existing customers?

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Christian Book Trade, News

Tagged , , , ,