Bringing a longstanding exclusive distribution arrangement with STL to an end, HarperCollins have today announced new distribution arrangements to the UK Christian book trade. In a press release (pdf, 70kb) issued on Thursday, December 10, 2009, Sam Richardson, Head of Religious Publishing at HarperCollins, advised that new agreements had been reached with IVP and Norwich Books and Music, … Continue reading
Posted in December 2009 …
Announcing the St Olav Christian Bookshop, Chichester
CONGRATULATIONS to Bradley Smith and to the churches and Christian community in Chichester who have joined forces to reopen the former SPCK bookshop at St Olave’s Church, North Street, Chichester. The shop — which will be trading under the name St Olav Christian Bookshop — is due to be formally opened at 10am on Saturday 12th December … Continue reading
“Former-SPCK” Creditors: Letters to Church Times, The Bookseller
Matt Wardman writes: I mentioned in a previous posting that we had written to a number of outlets to publicise the call for Creditors of the former-SPCK bookshop chain, and to raise a number of concerns about the way the brevity of the deadline, and the narrowness of the subset of creditors likely to see … Continue reading
The Future Shape of Christian Bookselling
The shape of our trade is changing, perhaps beyond recognition to those who still think of bookshops as some sort of quaint cottage industry where dusty tomes gather even more dust on dusty shelves. The reality that all of us are up against is this: online bookselling with its armchair shopping and lower prices is here to stay. Continue reading
STL UK: Preferred Bidders Selected but Outcome Remains Uncertain
In a new trade update issued yesterday afternoon, Keith Danby has announced that STL UK’s “preferred bidders” have now been selected. The final outcome remains uncertain “until the due diligence process is concluded” but they remain confident that one or more transactions will be concluded for various aspects of the business, thus ensuring a seamless … Continue reading
Debts of the former SPCK bookshop chain: Church Times letter
Matt Wardman writes:
We have a letter published in the Church Times this week about the former SPCK bookshop chain. Kudos to the CT for putting it outside the paywall, where everyone can see it.
A fuller version, with a few points about the J Mark Brewer attempt (known to us as the Great Texan Wild Goose Chase) to dodge debts by putting a sort-of conflation of various bits of his organisations into Bankruptcy in South Texas, declaring lots of debts but none of the assets, is in this week’s Bookseller – but they don’t always put letters online. Continue reading
UCB Suspend Mail Order Services due to STL Supply Problems
During what should have been their busiest time of year, the run up to Christmas, UCB have suspended their online/mail order service, UCB2GO, due to concerns over STL’s ability to supply. The suspension came into effect on November 23rd and is expected to remain in place for a period of three months: UCB2GO has recently … Continue reading
SAP and IBS-STL UK: A Timeline and Some Reflections
Given that the collapse of IBS-STL UK has largely been attributed to its failed SAP implementation, the following timeline (which undoubtedly has a few gaps) may prove helpful in formulating the questions that should now be asked in order to ensure that a disaster like this doesn’t happen again. The fact that SAP was intended to … Continue reading
