November 7, 2008

Leicester: One Year On

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This weekend marks one year since the news broke of SPCK/SSG Leicester’s independence under a new name, Christian Resources:    

Congratulations to Peter Hebden and his team on making it this far: here’s wishing them every success for the future! I invited Peter to give us an update and perhaps offer some advice for anyone else seeking to strike out by themselves. He writes:

All the best stories begin with “once upon a time” and end with a “happy ending”. 

Once upon a time there was a Christian bookshop in Leicester trading under the name of SPCK. It was a kindly shop with lots of friends and neighbours.  Then one day there was a sudden whoosh as the wind of change blew away the cobwebs, some of the books, some of the staff, and even…….some of the traditional ways of doing things. SSGCT had arrived.

Principles and goals were challenged, even one’s raison d’être was examined and tested.  Many changes were promoted, many implemented, some refused (I hate wearing a tie). The results were of mixed value and after a year of frantic activity the whirlwind of SSGCT moved off to other shores.

What was left was renamed Christian Resources in an attempt to re-brand, broaden the stock range and concentrate on core customers. The rest of the world looked on in partial disbelief, finding it hard to accept that there may yet be a future for an independent bookshop. The future would lay in resourcing Christians with many things, the printed word accounting for perhaps only 55-60 % of sales.

We at Leicester have been fortunate to have an accommodating landlord, patient financial backers, (we thank God we did not turn to the banking system), and most importantly helpful suppliers. The landlords were able to offer accommodation with a short term ‘get out’ aspect and within a couple of weeks all the major suppliers offered credit facilities. These credit facilities were crucial in helping us to bring the stock of new books and products up to sensible trading levels. I can not stress enough the value in both financial and encouragement terms of credit facilities in those early days as we rushed headlong into Christmas.

There was much to organise in the first few weeks bearing in mind that the deal was not struck until the 15th of October, just 16 days to takeover day (and a week of that was spent on holiday in Turkey).

Here is a basic tick box list for anyone with a desire to ’step out of line’:

  • VAT REGISTRATION
  • PAYE REGISTRATION
  • BANK ACC. Paying in & cheque books
  • CREDIT CARD facility
  • TELEPHONE/INTERNET provision
  • SOFTWARE/HARDWARE
  • SERVICES, rates, electricity etc registration
  • ACCOUNTING procedures,
              Sales & purchase ledger systems
              Credit customer notifications
  • STAFF conditions of employment/contracts, H & S.

On reflection we are greatly blessed with the encouragement received from many quarters but take note you who may consider a similar step, the bottom line is that the customer is king. This means that if one doesn’t get the price ‘right’ then that good will which abounds on the first few weeks will evaporate as quick as the morning mist in spring. I have found  even the most loyal of customers don’t hesitate to use Amazon or go direct to a publisher or wholesaler if it suits. Remember nobody owes us a living, everybody has to find the best deal for themselves, not us.

As for a happy ending, well I am sure there will be one its just that I don’t know what it is yet, but I really do feel God will have a hand in it if I can just bring myself to let Him.

 

September 17, 2008

SPCK/SSG Update

Posted by Phil Groom under News | Tags: , , , , |
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First, my thanks to everyone who has expressed concern over or offered support — whether publicly or privately — about the ongoing shenanigans with the former SPCK Bookshops. If you’re new to the situation, please read SPCK/SSG: My Story, a brief account of my own involvement.

In general I’ve tried to keep reporting on this situation separate, in the dedicated SPCK/SSG Blog, but we are now at a point where some things may be about to be resolved and wider media attention to the story seems likely.

To summarise: 

At the end of August J Mark Brewer (the Texas attorney who threatened me, Dave Walker and several others with libel action if we refused to stop reporting on this situation) had his case thrown out of the US Bankruptcy Courts with prejudice and as having been submitted in bad faith. This month, Randy Williams, the Trustee to the US Bankruptcy Courts, filed a motion for sanctions against Mr Brewer and his law company, Brewer and Pritchard, P.C.

Brewer has responded with an acknowledgment of some fault but has by no means pleaded guilty to all charges: his full response may be downloaded as a pdf from the SPCK/SSG Downloads page, and Matt Wardman and David Keen have offered some helpful analysis of Brewer’s response.

Meanwhile, back here in the UK, Employment Tribunal hearings for at least 30 former bookshop workers are scheduled to take place tomorrow, Thursday 18th September, in Bury St Edmunds. Please keep those concerned in your prayers.

To conclude, for now:

Mark and Philip Brewer’s behaviour and their frankly abominable treatment of their staff, present and former, as well as their reprehensible attitude towards their customers and suppliers, impacts on the entire Christian book trade and risks bringing all of us into disrepute. On the  SPCK/SSG Blog we have therefore issued a call for anyone with potential evidence that may help with any future legal actions against the Brewers here in the UK to step forward with that evidence: Collecting the Evidence. Links to relevant material may be posted publicly via the comments or may be submitted privately, direct to me.

Thank you.

 

September 4, 2008

Good News from Norwich

Posted by Phil Groom under News | Tags: , , , , , |
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Network Norwich, 7th August 2008

Norwich Christian resource centre resurrected: Network Norwich, 7th August 2008

The following report was received 3rd Sept 2008, cross-posted on SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info:

A new Community Interest Company is on course to resurrect a shop and café within St Michael-at-Plea, Redwell Street, Norwich, the church previously occupied by SSG and SPCK, from July 2004 to May 2008.

The Norwich Christian Resource Centre will be managed by Steve Foyster who will be returning to this venue, having left in June last year to set up a new online shop. His four fellow directors come from Anglican and free church backgrounds.

Since the centre finally closed in May the directors have been in direct liaison with the landlords, Norwich Historic Churches Trust, who are delighted that once again the redundant church will be used for the communities of Norwich, Norfolk and beyond.

Virtually all the ex-shop and café staff, most of whom were unable to find other employment, will return, along with the twenty or so volunteers who make the running of the well frequented café possible.

Regrettably nearly all the shop fitments and café equipment have been removed, though thankfully the bookshelving remains as an integral part of the listed building. Very generous donations are helping to buy new or secondhand replacements and several enthusiastic stakeholders are putting up no-interest three year loans to enable the purchase of new stock. Once the centre is open there will be an appeal for donations of second hand books. The new company has already received over £750 in donations following a recent appeal on the Network Norwich site, as well as a fax machine, PC and inkjet cartridges.

Steve says,

I remember all the blood, sweat and tears that went into the planning of this wonderful centre, when I was involved in 2004. It was always very well stocked with the widest breadth of titles, including a wealth of second hand titles, sought after as far afield as Canada and Finland.

It pleased me most that customers couldn’t pin down any particularly dominant theological strand – Karl Barth rubbed shoulders with Rick Joyner and hoodies hung alongside cassocks!

We were able to hold dozens of after hours events ranging from debates between humanists, bishops, MPs and professors, to an evening with Julie Reinger, the ‘Look East’ weather presenter. The team even re-enacted the famous Communication Problem episode within a Fawlty Towers evening. We knew of many people who came through the doors that would not normally set foot in a Christian shop let alone a church.

Although customers can easily move on to other providers, given the wealth of prayer and enthusiasm for the new venture from hundreds and hundreds of supporters, the new team are confident that NCRC will be more than viable.

Steve and the team hope to start trading on Wednesday 1st October.

Events are already being scheduled:

  • Thursday 16 October: Bishop David Atkinson will be speaking about his new book on climate change ‘Renewing the Face of the Earth’ – admission free with 10% off the book and other relevant titles.
  • Tuesday 21 October: Trafalgar Day supper with guest speaker
  • Mid December: an Advent evening with Arian and Bridget Plass

Many sincere and heartfelt thanks to all those who have prayed about this new venture for so long.

Index of Reports from Network Norwich (most recent first)

 

  • Norwich Christian resource centre resurrected
    A thriving city centre Christian resource centre, bookshop and cafe is set to re-open in Norwich under new management within the next few weeks after a successful rescue plan…
  • Norwich Christian bookshop stripped of stock
    A Christian bookshop in Norwich was yesterday (June 19) stripped of all its stock in the latest chapter of the on-going tale of its takeoever and closure…
  • Norwich Christian bookshop closes its doors
    Norwich’s SSG Bookshop and Resource Centre (formerly SPCK) will close its doors tomorrow (June 14) for the foreseeable future, after its owner filed for a form of bankruptcy in the USA and its Norwich staff were dismissed…
  • Norwich SPCK closure goes on as union steps in
    The SPCK bookshop in Norwich remains closed over two weeks after it first shut its doors following the sacking of all its staff and today (February 21) the telephone lines have been barred…
  • Norwich SPCK sackings e-mail is revealed
    More details have emerged of the sacking by e-mail of the staff of Norwich Christian bookshop SPCK last week…
  • Rescue plan for Norwich Christian literature
    Following the temporary closure of Norwich’s only city centre Christian bookshop and the alleged sacking of its five staff on Tuesday, an alternative plan to preserve the future of Christian literature in Norwich is emerging…
  • Staff sacked as Norwich SPCK bookshop closes
    The future of Norwich’s only city-centre Christian bookshop is uncertain after it closed its doors yesterday (February 5) and all its staff were sacked…
- Compiled by Phil Groom
 

August 24, 2008

Phoenix Rising

Posted by Phil Groom under News | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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With the near-total collapse of the former SPCK/St Stephen the Great Bookshops under the auspices of brothers Phil & Mark Brewer and with Sarum College Bookshop in meltdown — or not, depending on your point of view — it would be easy to become despondent over the state of Christian bookselling here in the UK. Is it all really going down the pan?

In a word, no. At least seven, possibly eight, new shops and businesses have risen or are now rising from the ashes of SPCK’s ruin, harnessing much of the expertise of the booksellers treated with such contempt by the Brewers and restoring much of what the Christian communities in those areas have been deprived of.

Melanie Carroll was amongst the first to make a comeback as an independent bookseller in Lincoln with Unicorn Tree Books in the Central Market. Melanie was the manager of both SPCK Lincoln and spckonline.com before both were effectively destroyed by the Brewers: her story emerges bit by bit in the Unicorn Tree Books Blog as well as in her comments posted here.

Leicester managed to break free from the Brewers in November 2007 as reported in the St Paul’s Oadby blog, a story soon picked up by Dave Walker. Questions were raised: was the Leicester shop truly independent or were the Brewers playing fast and loose with leaseholds via a franchise? Eventually, in June this year, the shop’s new owner, the Revd Peter Hebden, put an end to speculation with a declaration via a comment on the SPCK/SSG Blog that the shop was indeed truly independent. The shop is now trading as Christian Resources, Leicester.

In Cardiff, City United Reformed Church — who had hosted SPCK for many years after the rising cost of city rents meant that they were unable afford their previous premises — became so angry over the Brewers’ shenanigans that they simply locked them out whilst they drew up plans for a new shop. Again, the SPCK/SSG Blog comments section became the place where the story was told. Churches Together Bookshop was opened on July 22nd 2008.

Truro Christian Bookshop - Excerpt from the Truro Coracle, July 2008

Truro Christian Bookshop - Excerpt from the Truro Coracle, July 2008

The SPCK/SSG Truro branch changed hands early this year and has been trading independently since 1st February 2008 as Truro Christian Bookshop. This was reported in the July 2008 edition of The Coracle, Truro’s Diocesan newsletter, and once more noted by a visitor via a comment in the SPCK/SSG Blog.

Update: In June 2009 news emerged that Truro Christian Bookshop had been put up for sale due to the manager’s ill-health. The current status of the shop is unknown.

In Birmingham, Annette Anderson, former SPCK branch manager, has established The Gift Centre in the Indoor Market on Edgbaston Street, from where she offers a full range of Christian and inspirational cards and gifts, children’s books, and a selection of church requisites such as incense and charcoal, helping to fill the gap left by SPCK’s closure.

In Norwich, former branch manager Steve Foyster has plans well underway to resurrect the former shop and café as a new company to trade as Norwich Christian Resource Centre. Earlier this month Network Norwich reported that “Virtually all the ex-shop and cafe staff will be re-employed at the new centre, which has been one of Steve’s other hopes over the past months.” More info may be found in the Diocese of Norwich Clergy Mailing, 7 August 2008: Christian Resource Centre set for resurrection.

The gap left by SPCK’s demise in Exeter has been at least part-filled by Bridge Books, a new independent shop opened in July by John & Margaret Robertson in what looks to be a superb location overlooking the river at Okehampton Street, just a short walk away from the city centre.

Finally, we come full circle back to Salisbury: the optimism expressed by Sarum College over the future of their bookshop under the “stewardship” of librarian Jenny Monds may or may not be misplaced. If the shop survives, it will certainly owe that survival at least in part to the demise of SPCK Salisbury; and we can be certain that Salisbury hasn’t seen the last of Sarum’s former bookshop manager, Mark Clifford: booksellers of Mark’s calibre don’t simply crawl away and die — as Mark himself has said, watch this space…

High Street Christian bookselling on the way out? Don’t believe a word of it!

And if you’d like to help liberate another Christian bookshop from the Brewers’ increasingly desperate grip, please consider signing the SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info petition, Rescuing Britain’s Christian Heritage: Durham Cathedral Bookshop.

 

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