February 4, 2012

After the Tsunami: Regaining perspective on the UK Christian book trade

Posted by Phil Groom under Book Trade Ramblings, Christian Book Trade, Christian Bookshops, Independent Booksellers, Musings... | Tags: , , , , |
[17] Comments 

SOMETIMES, IN RUNNING UKCBD/THIS BLOG, I want to make like Elijah: to simply run away, hide in a cave and wait for the inevitable. Unlike Elijah, however, I’m not being pursued by an angry Queen who wants to chop me into pieces: on the whole the Christian book/retail trade remains a very positive area to work in; and whilst the unrelenting tide of bookshop closures may feel like a tsunami overwhelming us, I don’t think God has finished with this trade yet. Refining and redefining, certainly; but finished? Far from it — and what I see happening here is far from whistling in the dark.

Allow me to offer some facts and figures:

The UKCBD database currently holds 801 records. Of those, 209 are flagged ‘Omit’, for various reasons: some are incomplete and have never made it to the live site, others are archived as businesses have relocated; only 79 (just under 10%) are specifically flagged ‘Ceased Trading’ — and only 26 have been flagged ‘Ceased Trading’ within the last 12 months. That’s not the full picture: I’m aware of a number of shops that have ceased trading (Chelmsford Christian Bookshop and Quench, St Albans are two examples) but I haven’t updated their entries yet, simply due to the constraints of time and other commitments.

On the opposite side of the coin, however, during that same period 23 new records have been added. Looking back over the last quarter alone, these include:

Some of these are brand new, launched within the last few months; some are relocated or ‘resurrected’ businesses, taking over existing premises from collapsed ventures; others are well established but had somehow slipped under the radar and never made their way into my listings; and some, quite clearly, are not ‘Christian bookshops’ as we’ve come to know them: they are all, however, part of the current Christian retailing reality, the reality that is now being refined and redefined.

Again, this isn’t the full picture: it’s rare for more than a couple of weeks to go by without someone contacting me to provide details of a shop or business that isn’t in the directory. As I prepare this post, I have records pending for several shops that I’ve only recently found out about:

On average, then, for every shop that has disappeared over the last year, another has popped up: some towns, such as Nottingham, are now without a Christian bookshop; others, such as Rotherham, have gained one; and elsewhere, more flexible ventures such as Richard Greatrex’s Windflower Books and Jenny Hickman’s Midlands Christian Books have emerged. The UKCBD database is growing, not shrinking.

Some of the chains — SPCK, Wesley Owen, Living Oasis — are broken beyond repair; others — CLC and FM Bookshops — are still in business, some branches struggling, some thriving, the strong supporting the weak. The collapse of Living Oasis and the failure of Koorong to make a go of Wesley Owen here in the UK perhaps tells us more about the shortcomings of their particular business models than it does about the trade in general.

Steve Mitchell is right in what he affirms when he says:

… it is a brave man to bet against the online business which is so rapidly growing… the charity or independent model is now the best option to maintain physical Christian stores.

But he is wrong in what he denies: because there are plenty of brave men — and women! — out there: not “betting against the online business” but integrating the online with their business models.

The future of Christian bookselling in the UK depends not upon pitting the online against the physical but upon bringing the two together. It’s a secret that lives at the very heart of our faith: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female” — and to that I add, there is no longer physical or virtual — “for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

We who are Christ’s disciples should know these things better than anyone else. Throwing people overboard in the storm is not the way of Christ. Lopping off limbs when the head says to the foot, “I don’t need you anymore,” is not the way of Christ. The only time we see Christ breaking things up is when the temple of mammon attempts to supplant the temple of God — and, coming full circle now, the remnant of Israel that God promises Elijah he will save consists of “all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

The way of Christ is the Cross: is to face impossible odds, to take the pain, to bleed and die, and then — only then — rise to new life. There are no short cuts to resurrection.

To those now feeling like limbs lopped off; to those pursuing the vision of that “well-run and nimble independent sector” that Eddie Olliffe speaks of; to those following the way of Christ regardless of personal cost: I salute you.

 

January 31, 2012

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

Posted by Phil Groom under News | Tags: , , , , , |
[10] Comments 
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.”

 

July 24, 2010

Reintroducing Authentic Media

Posted by Phil Groom under Christian Publishers, Guest Posts, Publisher Profiles | Tags: , , |
[2] Comments 

Recently a friend on facebook asked if I knew what was going on with Authentic Media since the collapse of the old STL: had they survived? The answer, I’m pleased to say, is a resounding yes. I invited them to bring us up to date:

Authentic

Authentic

Following the news of IBS-STL UK going into administration at the end of 2009, many were left feeling in the dark and uncertain about what the future would hold. It was a challenging and unsettling time for us all. On behalf of the Authentic team we want to express our gratitude for all your prayers and kind messages of support.

For those who are not aware, Authentic Media were bought by Koorong Books Pty Ltd, an Australian retail company, on 19th December 2009. We are working extremely hard to establish our new company with Koorong and whilst we still have some difficult decisions to make and various challenges to overcome, we are excited and look forward to strengthening our working relationship with you all.

Mark Finnie, Authentic Media’s Publishing Director adds:

The Authentic team’s strong relationship with authors and customers, its creativity, dedication and passion, combined with the sales and marketing expertise of Koorong, has ensured a great start for the new Authentic. With two awards at CRE, six new titles in the best-sellers lists and great coverage in the media we have valued the support of our loyal customers.

We are pleased to have reprinted many strong sellers this year, including Seriously Funny, Son of Hamas, Song of the Nightingale and Father Forgive and are working on the re-release of five D. A. Carson titles and six further A. W. Tozer books.

We are also pleased to announce that the popular International Children’s Bible is now available once again from Authentic. Unfortunately, due to contractual issues, we cannot say the same for the NCV Youth Bible. We are disappointed that we will no longer be producing this Bible, however, we are pleased to say that we are currently working on a new and exciting Authentic Youth Bible for Spring 2011.

In order for us to rebuild and strengthen Authentic it is important for us to maintain good communication with you all; your comments and feedback are invaluable to us so please do keep in touch:

info AT authenticmedia.co.uk*
www.authenticmedia.co.uk
authenticmedia.blogspot.com
twitter.com/authenticmedia
 www.facebook.com/authenticmedia

Once again, we thank you for your patience, kindness and support over the last year.

From all the Authentic team,

Rob Bootes: Executive Director
Donna Harris: Operations Manager
Mark Finnie: Publishing Director
Malcolm Down: Publishing Manager
Mike Parsons: Paternoster Commissioning Editor
Peter Little: Production Coordinator
Liz Williams: Editorial Supervisor
Sarah Gallagher: Marketing Coordinator
Becky Fawcett: Editorial Coordinator
Richard Durham: Data Administrator
Wendy Tyler: Accounts Administrator
* Email address split for spam prevention — Ed.
 

May 5, 2010

What’s happening at Wesley Owen? David Chant gives us the inside story

Posted by Phil Groom under Bookshop Ramblings, Guest Posts, Wesley Owen | Tags: , , , |
[6] Comments 
Wesley Owen Birmingham: Facebook Photos

Wesley Owen Birmingham - Facebook Photos

If you’re anything like me, you’ve no doubt been wondering how things are going for Wesley Owen’s survivors under their new Aussie owners, Koorong. So I put on my Aussie hat (made from genuine ’roo hide) to give myself an authentic Oz presence and invited the inimitable David Chant from Wesley Owen Birmingham to tell us all about it. He writes:

Thank you, Phil, for inviting me to tell the bookselling world all about our first 4 months under new ownership. In December, we were fortunate to be one of the 8 Wesley Owen stores to be bought by Koorong, the leading Australian Christian bookseller.  All the changes in the trade have been well documented, so I will concentrate on how this has impacted upon one of the Big 8!  From day one we were welcomed into the Koorong family by the key personnel.  By January we had received phone calls from Australia, (most of which were made in the early hours of their morning), visitations by many, and regular emails that helped us with the transition from Wesley Owen to the Koorong way.

Birmingham branch was chosen to be to the IT hub for the group.  Their IT guru based himself here for a number of weeks, setting up the PCs, and EPOS terminals.  He then travelled England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, setting everything up.  He finally left the UK after many weeks in the snowy UK – and had missed the Aussie summer!

The EPOS system is superb!  We are only using a tiny part of what it is capable of at present, but that will soon change as new systems are introduced.

We recently received training from another of the jet-setters – and more are coming over shortly. We are taking in so much (and probably forgetting the majority of it!) at the moment, and sometimes go home in the evenings totally exhausted from all we have taken on board.

In recent weeks we have all received numerous pallets of books.  About 200 boxes of lovely stock winged itself to us in April, and I cannot begin to tell you how marvelous it is to walk into a well stocked shop again.  It has been quite a task manhandling so much stock; sorting, pricing and rearranging the shop to fit in all in. But how rewarding!  For example, we now have a Bible section crammed with just about anything we are likely to be asked for.  It’s been some time since I could say that!

The new Wesley Owen Books & Music membership scheme, website, and data base are now being built, so it won’t be long until we are well and truly inducted into the Koorong way.

Having been through such a transition before, (we had been an independent for 105 years before Wesley Owen took us over in 1997), some aspects haven’t been too big a shock to the system.  In fact it has breathed new life and vigour into not only the shop, but also the staff.

We are being ably looked after by our UK based management, as well as the team from Sydney.  It is great to have such a dedicated team watching over us.

Now the fun begins.  We will be undertaking our first stocktake soon, and will no doubt be getting our branch budgets shortly.  Honeymoon period over? :-)

Finally, having invited David to contribute, it would be remiss of me not to mention his personal project, Planet BB: if you or anyone you know is or has been involved in Boys’ Brigade, check it out.

 

March 1, 2010

Church Times Blog: New Living Oasis Christian bookshops to be ‘three times the size’ of former Wesley Owen shops

Posted by Phil Groom under Bookshop Ramblings | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
[11] Comments 
Christian Marketplace, March 2010

Christian Marketplace, March 2010

My thanks to Dave Walker for permission to cross-post the following from the Church Times Blog, a superb summary of reportage in this month’s Christian Marketplace. Scroll to the end for my own comments and concluding reflections.

Clem Jackson from Christian Marketplace magazine has been busy talking to everyone involved in the events following the demise of the UK’s largest Christian book distributor IBS-STL (UK) and its associated bookshops (Wesley Owen). In particular he has interviewed representatives of the organisations who have taken over the assets.

You can download the latest issue of Christian Marketplace via this page. There are many interesting nuggets of information to be found, including some in an interview with Ray George of Nationwide Christian Trust, who have taken on half of the shops in the Wesley Owen chain (for background see Living Oasis Christian bookshops). This is a brief extract, which gives some idea of the direction that is planned for the new ’Living Oasis‘ shops:

We are looking to lead with the coffee shop and not the Christian bookshop and we believe that we will add a further 60% to the turnover; this is the difference between profit and loss.

The bookshops we have acquired are too small, so in most cases we are looking to relocate. We have taken temporary leases on the current bookshop sites for three or six months, but we’re negotiating hard. We’re in a buyer’s market looking to open new shops – and that’s going to happen.

The footprint of our shops will probably be three times the size of the average Wesley Owen shop we have. We want to coffee shop to be prominent, but we don’t want it to seem as if the coffee shop is all we’ve got.

Clem also talks to the Managing Director of Koorong, who have taken over a smaller number of shops, along with the online shop and Authentic publishing. You’ll need to download the magazine to read that.

Available online is a news story, Major casualties revealed in IBS-STL UK collapse, which gives some idea of the size of the losses taken by Christian organisations in the wake of the IBS-STL (UK) collapse:

Two the world’s leading Christian publishers, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, are in line to suffer losses exceeding £280,000 between them as a result of the collapse of IBS-STL UK at the end of 2009, according to information given to Christian Marketplace, by the administrators handling the winding up of the company. However this figure is significantly exceeded by the amount owed to UK publisher Scripture Union, which has submitted a claim for around £360,000 for ‘SU Product’, although this figure has “not yet been agreed by the administrators” according to latest letter to ‘all known creditors’.

Living Oasis: Which Shops?

Clem’s interview with Ray George also brings to light the definitive list of shops that Living Oasis have in their sights:

We now have 20 shops in our portfolio: Aberdeen, Bedford, Belfast, Cheltenham, Chester, Croydon, Edinburgh, Harrogate, Harrow, Inverness, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, South Woodford, Southampton, Sutton, Watford, Weston-Super-Mare and Worthing.

Concluding Reflections

With respect to the debts — also reported by the Bookseller, Trade creditors owed £2.5m after Wesley Owen failure — I find myself wondering how in good conscience Biblica, IBS-STL UK’s parent company, can simply walk away from this and continue their operations in the USA and elsewhere as if nothing untoward has happened? Was it not Biblica’s globalisation strategy that brought IBS-STL UK to its knees? Yet to this day Biblica’s news section has carried not a single report on the UK situation.

No doubt Biblica have acted within the letter of the law — but is this really the way a supposedly Christian organisation should conduct its affairs? Biblica sums up its core values as follows:

We believe that Biblica should be guided by biblical core values that serve as the measuring standard for the work we do, the people we serve and the mission we strive to accomplish. These values also serve as a reflection of the commitment we have to all of the standards set forth in God’s Word.

In Romans 13:8 the Scriptures that Biblica claim to affirm admonish us:

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another…

Where, O Biblica, is the love in the way we see you conducting your affairs in relation to the UK??

 

December 27, 2009

Wesley Owen: 27 Christian Bookshops Wiped Off the Map

Posted by Phil Groom under Bookshop Ramblings, Christian Bookshops | Tags: , , , , |
[36] Comments 

Now you see them, now you don’t: Christmas is over and 27 Christian bookshops have been unceremoniously wiped off the map. Officially only 26 shops have vanished: Biblica/IBS-STL UK operated 40 branches of Wesley Owen, of which 14 have been saved by Koorong and CLC. The figure of 27 derives from the 41 branches previously listed by Wesley Owen, of which the odd one out was Woking, run as a franchise (h/t ‘Spoiler of Mysteries’).

This is the Wesley Owen map as it stood on December 11th:

Wesley Owen Store Finder, as at 11 Dec 2009

Wesley Owen Store Finder, as at 11 Dec 2009

… and as it stands today:

Wesley Owen Store Finder Today

Wesley Owen Store Finder Today

Koorong, the new owners of the Wesley Owen brand and domain, wesleyowen.com, are, of course, quite right to update the store finder to show only their own stores, and no criticism of Koorong is either intended or implied by this post.

But what of Biblica, former owners of the 26 abandoned shops? As I write there is still no mention of this sorry episode on their current news page: it’s as if the shops — and more to the point, their staff — have been simply deleted from Biblica’s history.

With those 26 shops now in administration, I guess there is no formal or legal duty of care on Biblica’s part towards the business or employees that they have disowned. Given all that we have seen in the last few years, perhaps it is unrealistic of me to expect better from a Christian organisation … yet somehow I still find myself hoping for a little more integrity from Biblica, an indication that there is some sense of pastoral care, some sense of moral responsibility… that they will not simply turn their backs on their workers and walk away…

In the meantime, here’s where the disowned shops may be found: please continue to pray for their staff and for local church groups to catch the vision and seize the day. Click through the town name for the full address:

Branches in Administration
Aberdeen
Bedford
Belfast
Brighton
Carlisle
Cheltenham
Chester
Croydon
Dundee
Edinburgh
Falkirk
Harrogate
Harrow		 Inverness
Leeds
Liverpool
Macclesfield
Manchester
Nottingham
Southampton
South Woodford
Sutton
Walsall
Watford
Weston-Super-Mare
Worthing
 

December 21, 2009

Wesley Owen: Expressions of Interest in Remaining Stores Welcomed

Posted by Phil Groom under Christian Bookshops, Christian Publishers, Christian Suppliers, News | Tags: , , , , , , , |
[16] Comments 

Press Release - Carlisle, 21st December 2009 (pdf, 102kb)

Details of the new ownership of IBS-STL UK’s three trading divisions have now been confirmed in an official press release issued today (full text below | pdf, 102kb) as follows:

  • Authentic Music has been bought by Kingsway Communications.
  • Authentic Book Publishing and 8 Wesley Owen Stores (Bath Birmingham, Bristol, Bromley, Coleraine, Derby, Glasgow and York ) have been sold to Koorong. Koorong has purchased all of the Authentic and Paternoster intellectual property and author contracts, the freehold properties in Glasgow and York, the Wesley Owen trading name, and the domain name, wesleyowen.com.
  • STL Distribution has been purchased by John Ritchie Ltd, which has taken on all of the Carlisle properties, intends to retain Carlisle as a major base of operation and will continue to trade as STL Distribution.
  • A further 6 Wesley Owen stores (Bolton, Cambridge, Coventry, Guildford, Kingston and Stockport) have been acquired by CLC International (UK).

The remaining Wesley Owen stores are in administration but will continue trading whilst discussions continue with local groups which have expressed interest in taking on branches in their areas. Other expressions of interest would be welcome:

The administrators are keen to secure future trading from as many of these premises as possible and would welcome any expressions of interest.

Reports Roundup (most recent first, updated 7.45pm, 23/12/2009)

Full text of the press release follows:

Press Release: Carlisle December 21st 2009

The Board of Trustees and Senior Management of leading Carlisle-based Christian Charity, IBS-STL UK, formerly known as STL are pleased to announce the sale of two of its three trading divisions: Authentic Media and STL Distribution, as well as the sale of a significant number of its retail stores that comprise the third trading division: Wesley Owen.  A large number of jobs have been secured as a result of the sale and the Charity’s mission of ‘Advancing the Christian Faith’ will continue.

The management team has worked closely with the Baker Tilly Corporate Finance LLP over the last month to secure the sale of all or part of the Charity’s business units. Completion of the sale agreements is expected to be finalised by the weekend with the new owners taking control immediately thereafter. This is regarded as extremely good news and ends a period of uncertainty and anxiety for many of our employees.

The sale details are as follows;

  • Authentic Music based in Milton Keynes has been bought by Kingsway Communications operating from Eastbourne.
  • Authentic Book Publishing and 8 Wesley Owen Stores (Bath Birmingham, Bristol, Bromley, Coleraine, Derby, Glasgow and York ) have been sold to Koorong, which is owned by the Bootes family. Based in Sydney, Koorong has 18 stores operating successfully throughout Australia. It has purchased all of the Authentic and Paternoster intellectual property and author contracts, the freehold properties in Glasgow and York, the Wesley Owen trading name, and the domain name, wesleyowen.com.  They plan to continue to operate from the Milton Keynes area.
  • STL Distribution has been purchased by John Ritchie Ltd a rapidly expanding book publisher and distributor based in Kilmarnock, Scotland. John Ritchie Ltd has purchased all of the Carlisle properties and intends to retain Carlisle as a major base of operation. The business will continue to trade as STL Distribution. John Ritchie Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Lord’s Work Trust which has substantial resources and supports Christian outreach and projects around the world.  All profits from the business are returned to the Trust.
  • A further 6 Wesley Owen stores (Bolton, Cambridge, Coventry, Guildford, Kingston and Stockport) have been acquired by CLC International (UK) whose head office is in Alresford, Hampshire, and whose stores operate as CLC Bookshops.
  • There are ongoing discussions with a number of local groups interested in retaining their local Christian Bookshop.  This may take some time to progress. In the meantime the administrators are continuing to trade from each of the remaining 26 stores. The administrators are keen to secure future trading from as many of these premises as possible and would welcome any expressions of interest.

In each case the new owners will purchase the assets of the parts of the business; no one is taking over responsibility for the IBS-STL UK charity which regrettably will be put into Administration for an orderly wind down.

Commenting on the sales, Keith Danby Chief Executive said, “I am delighted with the developments. I could not have imagined 5 weeks ago such a positive outcome. All along we have had three goals in mind; the continuity of the distribution of Christian resources, safeguarding as many jobs as possible, and finding purchasers who would invest in the businesses and take them to a new level. We believe all of the purchasers fit these aspirations and we wish them every success going forward.”

Danby went on to pay tribute to all the staff, saying, “this has been a very difficult time for all of our staff around the country. Some have worked for the Charity for almost 20 years. They are dedicated, hardworking and passionate about the mission of the Charity. It has been a very difficult year for everyone and the uncertainty of the last month has created extraordinary anxiety for people with families, financial commitments and obligations yet they have continued to fight for the survival of the company and done their very best to keep going.”

Michael Fitch, Chairman of the Board of Trustees also stated his delight, “the work of Authentic, STL Distribution and Wesley Owen is very important in advancing the Christian faith in the UK and we are delighted that this work will continue under the ownership of these high calibre operators. I want to also thank all of the employees for their hard work under difficult circumstances”.

Ken Munro, CEO of John Ritchie Ltd, emphasised the importance of continuity in the existing business and his confidence with regard to the future prospects of the newly extended group.  “Our immediate goal is to quickly return the business to the levels of service and stability that STL Distribution customers have enjoyed over many years.  We will achieve this building on the existing team and infra-structure as the foundation of our future success”. He added “I am confident that this significant acquisition for John Ritchie Ltd will ultimately support and strengthen the CBC trade in the UK, and trust that the future prosperity of the business will make a significant contribution to the on-going mission and objectives of our parent Trust”.

Russell Cash, Partner at Baker Tilly Restructuring & Recovery in Manchester, said, “We are delighted that such a successful outcome has been achieved. We have worked closely with a number of people within the business over several weeks and have been impressed with the commitment and attitude displayed by everybody we have encountered. I am particularly pleased that so many jobs have been preserved and I wish everybody connected all the very best for the future”

“The sales which have been secured are to parties who are well placed, and extremely keen, to continue to operate the business within the traditional core values adopted by IBS-STL over many years.

“Whilst 14 of the retail outlets are now being operated by CLC and Koorong, we are keen to explore interest in the remaining 26 stores with a view to securing a future in the medium to long term. Each of the stores are currently continuing to trade under our control”

Phil Burnham, CLC’s National Director, said, “CLC’s acquisition of these bookshops, whilst presenting us with a number of challenges in the short term, also give us the opportunity to further fulfil our purpose statement. We are committed to keeping these six Christian witness and resource centres open on the high street. In the light of so many bookshop closures throughout this year CLC considered it necessary to act. While on the one hand I wish that we at CLC could have done more, to have done nothing would have filled us with remorse. We continue to pray for our colleagues in the trade and at IBS-STL, each affected to a greater or lesser degree by the recent unfortunate events”.

Ends

 

December 20, 2009

Wesley Owen: Excerpt from Press Release

Posted by Phil Groom under News | Tags: , , , |
[17] Comments 

Robin Parry has posted the following excerpt from a press release issued on Friday 18/12/2009:

Authentic Book Publishing (including Paternoster)and 8 Wesley Owen Stores (Bath Birmingham, Bristol, Bromley, Coleraine, Derby, Glasgow and York) have been sold to Koorong, which is owned by the Bootes family. Based in Sydney, Koorong has 18 stores operating successfully throughout Australia. It has purchased all of the Authentic and Paternoster intellectual property and author contracts, the freehold properties in Glasgow and York, the Wesley Owen trading name, and the domain name, wesleyowen.com. They plan to continue to operate from the Milton Keynes area.

From: Press Release: Paternoster’s future Secured, Robin Parry, 20/12/2009
[Update: Link removed: Robin's post appears to have been taken down;
the full press release is now available.]

 

December 19, 2009

Wesley Owen: 26 Branches Enter Administration, Others Sold (Updated)

Posted by Phil Groom under Bookshop Ramblings, News | Tags: , , , , , , |
[41] Comments 

21/12/2009: The official press release is now out and no further updates to this page will be posted. Comments remain open.

From Wesley Owen Edinburgh’s facebook page, posted on Friday 18/12/2009 at 21.14:

We are now in administration and will be closing shortly. As will almost all of the Wesley Owen shops. I thank you all so much for your support and can I ask you to pray for all of the staff that received the devastating news today at 5.35.

As for STL’s other divisions, sources elsewhere (contacts on facebook and twitter, who have since removed their status updates) indicate that Koorong and Kingsway (David C Cook) have taken on Authentic, with Koorong taking over the books publishing, Kingsway taking over the music. Koorong may have also taken on some of the Wesley Owen stores [2]. There is as yet no reliable information about STL Distribution [1], but I’m told that an official press release will be issued on Monday 21st December.

This is surely one of the saddest days in the history of Christian bookselling/retailing here in the UK. As per the request from Edinburgh, please pray for all the staff caught up in this mess.

[1] Update, 4.15pm: From Everything Christian, Big changes at Christian book supplier:

STL Distribution has been purchased by Scottish book wholesaler John Ritchie. However, it isn’t clear how much of the business they will retain, or which employees will be transferred.

[2] Update, 20/12/2009, 3.15pm: The situation with the shops is reported to be:

  • 26 shops told at 5.35pm yesterday that they were in administration
  • 6 shops taken over by CLC (Bolton, Stockport, Cambridge, Kingston, Guildford and Coventry)
  • 8 shops taken over by Koorong (Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Bromley, Coleraine, Derby, Glasgow, York, possibly another, along with the website and the Wesley Owen brand)

Reports Roundup (most recent first)

For earlier reports, see my STL UK Crisis: Reports roundup and further reflections (updated) (last updated 12/12/2009).

 

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