As mentioned on other blogs, there has now been official confirmation on what was written here on the 18th. John Ritchie has now bought STL Distribution; Koorong has purchased Authentic book publishing (with the DVD and music business going to Kingsway) plus eight stores (Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Bromley, Coleraine, Derby, Glasgow and York), the Wesley Owen brand name and the website; CLC have taken over six stores (Bolton, Cambridge, Coventry, Guildford, Kingston and Stockport). There is a remaining number of former Wesley Owen stores whose future is uncertain – either 26 or 27 according Phil Groom.
It isn’t clear yet what CLC plans to do with their stores. The assumption seems to be that they will be run along the same lines as the other CLC stores, but there has been no official confirmation of this from the charity.
Koorong have not yet announced their plans for the UK, but I have been informed that there are Wesley Owen plans to overhaul the website and to follow the same business plan as they do in Australia, including buying centrally direct from publishers both in the UK and the US.
It has just been announced by Gareth Russell that he is leaving his post as Managing Director of Authentic, stating that Koorong plan to bring in their own senior management from Australia.
The new CEO of STL Distribution, John Ritchie’s Ken Munro has issued a statement confirming that the STL SAP project is being abandoned and the older Informix system is to be reinstated and updated. Aware of the nervousness in the Christian book retail trade following last year’s SAP debacle, he says that,
This is not a high risk IT project, with significant in-house knowledge and experience being brought to bear and previously robust process and technology being re-activated. Interim operational processes and IT are in place to ensure that service is minimally impacted through the transition. We will communicate the detailed IT plan in January and provide regular updates going forward.
A position applauded by Phil Groom at Christian Bookshop Blog.
Mr Munro also states that he is confident of keeping many of the exclusive agreements held by STL Distribution, although other voices in the trade have commented that publishers will be less confident of tying up their distribution with a single supplier in the future.
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Neat summary, Ian: thank you. Saddened to hear of Gareth’s departure from Authentic, though…
If you’re reading this, Gareth, here’s wishing you all the best, wherever the future takes you!
thanks for all the updates on koorong etc. look forward to more in 2010. and thanks for following my thoughts.