The rumors are true-—Swoozies is assuming ownership of several bankrupt Blue Tulip stores, as demonstrated by court filings certifying lease transfers filed the past six days.
Here’s how it’s playing out:
Last Thursday, January 8th: The failing chain asked the courts for permission to begin the process of transferring unexpired leases to Swoozies.
Last Friday: Additional motions were entered to transfer leases on seven specific locations, including Ardmore PA, Marlton NJ, Florham Park NJ, Closter NJ, Warrington PA, Burlington MA, and Princeton NJ.
Monday of this week: More motions, now adding Darien CT and Redbank NJ locations.
Yesterday, the court began approving the transfers.
What happens with companies owed substantial amounts of unpaid debt (including William Arthur) has yet to be seen, but the reality is clear-—Blue Tulip has wilted for good.
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I love Swoozie’s! I am soo glad they are coming to the Northeast
I’m happy to see Blue Tulip go away and wish Swoozies and the rest of the chain stores would downsize considerably. So much of what is special in independent stationery stores gets lost or made more difficult as these cookie cutter chains grow.
I’m especially frustrated by the way vendors are changing their ordering, reps, and catalogs to cater to big boxes and franchises. Consumers have no idea how much of what is special in this industry is being sacrificed because of these chains.
I am so glad that Swoozie’s is opening up in the north east! My friends and family will be so happy!!
I love the one in Manhattan Beach!
I don’t know what the two Nikkis are so excited about. The two Swoozies I’ve been in were a snooze. Lots of the same old same old and next to nothing for service.
Unless Nikki and Nicole are the same person (both seem pretty over-exuberant and trigger happy with the exclamation marks).
If these stores failed for Blue Tulip, maybe they’ll fail for Swoozie’s too. God knows the world doesn’t need any more big box stores.
My company has chosen to stop selling to Swoozie’s or other similar chains since they don’t provide the depth of knowledge or personal service our independent retailers do. In the beginning, the lull of multi-outlet sales and increased revenue was enticing, but we’re just not seeing the rewards initially expected. Rather than risk diluting our brand while watching it sit unserviced among a sea of competitor SKUs, we’re pulling out.
One of our better retailers reminded us of Crane’s decision to close their corporate stores for the same reason. The single store retailers simply do a better job of romancing and moving product than any chain staffed by part time college kids ever will.
Two comments:
1) To the anonymous specialty retailer above:
Be careful about assuming (remember what *that* does) that chains like Swoozies staff their stores with part-time college kids. While I currently work for one of the abhorred “big box” stores (as referred to above), all of the staff there have undergraduate degrees and some of us, including myself, have graduate degrees. This has become the norm, not the exception. Assuming that chain stores employ only part-time college kids who lack training is extremely short-sighted. This was true even five to eight years ago but not now. Ever looked at the barista at your local Starbucks? Chances are she is an under-employed worker who cannot find full-time work in her field, like myself. It’s often college kids who cannot find work right now because there is such a glut of available over-qualified workers who desperately need some work that they will take even art-time retail work. Take it from someone who is asked at least twice a day if my store is hiring: it’s not college kids asking.
2) The bottom line is that vendors are asking for problems if they don’t enforce payment terms set at the start of the business relationship, especially with any store that has at least 2-3 locations, chain or not, public or not. When you talk about someone’s birth announcement being put on hold or FedEx not delivering to you because you are on credit hold, you’ll sit up and pay your bill. But from someone who has been on both sides of this issue, I have seen that vendors are reluctant to cut off companies, even as they continue to order product, exacerbating their debt with that company.
Remember that Swoozies, Best Buy, Starbucks—all of these “chains” started because there was a need. They answered the need and then grew. If don’t want to visit them, that’s your right, but don’t damn them because they are (or were) doing something better than your independent store is.
@ Sarah:
In your “big box employee enthusiasm” you missed the boat.
1. You refer to the anonymous poster as being a “specialty retailer,” although he/she has clearly stated they’ve decided to stop SELLING TO Swoozies and other similar chains. That would make them a vendor, not a retailer.
2. In fairness to that vendor (and everyone else in this thread), there’s been no mention of problems enforcing payment schedules, although it certainly sounds as though you have first hand experience with late payments and credit holds. Does make one wonder why you brought it up, unless, of course, it IS a problem with the chain you work for. Interesting slip of the tongue, especially how long you went on about it.
3. I doubt the anonymous vendor intended a literal definition of employees as only college aged kids. Truth be told, most of the Swoozie’s and similar stores I’ve been in have been staffed by college kids or similarly aged individuals. The broader point, if you read that response without bias, is that staffing in big boxes and chains *typically* consists of a high percentage of part time employees, many of which are young and/or transitory. True.
4. Chains did not start because there was a “need.” They started because someone saw a way to make money on a larger scale than most retailers are able to afford.
5. Your final statements claiming someone was damning big boxes for doing something “better” is perplexing. The anonymous vendor’s point was just the opposite. Their company is leaving Swoozie’s because the chain does a worse job of servicing their line and moving product than independent retailers do. His/her Crane’s reference was a sound one. There’s no larger company in the stationery industry, nor one with higher quality product. If even Crane’s recognizes the chasm between service in chains and independents, it’s hard to see how anyone could claim big boxes “do it better.”
I think this concept could be in real trouble….especially in this economy. I live in Raleigh, NC visited their store at Triangle Town Center and the store was not in stock and was positioned very poorly with lots of vacancy around them. I was also in the Birmingham store just before the Christmas holidays and was the only customer and still couldn’t find competent help with my sisters wedding invitations. We’ve gone back to locally owned, Village Press, store and have had a fabulous experience and will coninute to give them all of our future business.
@ Megan,
Glad to hear your friend had a good experience at Village; they do a nice job.
Also in Birmingham, not far from Village, is terrific stationer called “Weddings Etc.” They offer the classics, modern trends, and exceptional in-house design services, bringing a fresh, customer-first approach that breathes life into events of all types. Melissa Hill, the owner, has been featured in local press and at recent events as one of the most stylish women in Birmingham; she’s successfully infused her chic approach into everything Weddings Etc. offers.
Be sure to ask about their bride’s book and other custom items available exclusively through their store. Simply beautiful.
Check out my previous blog post about the store at:
http://alwaysupward.com/blog/?p=252
Being in the industry in the NY-NJ area, I have worked with Blue Tulip since the beginning with their first store in Princeton. Their growth was tremendous, from 1 store to 3 stores to 7 to 12 to 15, then the huge jump to 25. They buyers were overworked and understaffed, investors brought in superiors from an outside industry, children’s shoes, specifically Stride Rite. Ironically, the majority owner (44%) was from the same hometown as Stride Rite which is Lexington, MA.
As far as Swoozies, which Blue Tulip did emulate, is making a mistake bringing their stores to the NE. Demographics plays a huge role and I do not think that Swoozie’s knows the market. The cutesy pink and green, tween, look only goes so far.
Independent retailers are what keeps this industry going, their individual contact with consumers is a key role in gift buying and in particular invitation buying. Consumers, especially in the NY-NJ area have no patience with store employees who know little about their products, and when it comes to an event like a wedding, they will not have the “trust” with the employees of a “chain”. This leads us to the whole issue of the store employees, which the independents have much more control over. In fact, the mass majority of the independent stores have the owners on the floor helping sell the product.
I guess time will tell, my feeling is next year at this time we will be saying goodbye to Swoozie’s.
To the “Anonymous” above, Swoozie’s is not pink and green, its pink and orange. And obviously you do not know this store because if you did you would not make ridiculous remarks the way you did. Yes, they do have a “tween” area but that isnt why Swoozie’s became as large as it has. There is 32 stores and they are acquiring the most profitable stores in the NE. I would think they know what they are doing with that move. To say that you believe they will fail in the next year is just plain ridiculous and heartless, they are privately owned and operated, not a huge corporation. In this day in time I would think people would want the small companies that are being profitable each and every year to continue to grow and expand and help this horrible economy.
Also to comment on Megan’s comment, TTC is a dying center BUT it wasnt when the Swoozie’s was put there over 4 years ago. Many people only come to that center for Swoozie’s and Saks. Also they may have been out of stock because they were busy and sold the merchandise? that does make sense to me….
What’s with all the hate???? I worked at Blue Tulip for many years. At store level and at corporate level and it was the best job I ever had. The employees had a true passion for Blue Tulip and it was an extremely sad time for us when we learned the fate of “our” company. I know there were many people involved in opening Blue Tulip, but in my eyes (and in most of the “Tulips” eyes) there was really only one man, and he was the most amazing person to ever work for. He truly believed in the Blue Tulip mission and made every single employee feel important. If you ask me, the day they asked him to leave was the day the company sealed their fate.
I truly wish Swoozie’s all the luck and I hope you do succeed! The BT locations you acquired are truly the best of what we had.
I don’t know read “hate” here, but I do agree with the person from NY-NJ. Blue Tulip‘s business model and expansion plans were flawed, explaining the company’s brief lifespan. Swoozies (IMHO) is equally shortsighted in their approach to the NE quadrant and its customer base. Having visited several Swoozies locations in different regions, I can attest to the fact they look alike, just as most big boxes and chains do.
I tend to agree that one year from now we’ll be seeing Swoozies in trouble on at least some, if not all, of these ill conceived locations.
The wool has been pulled over the eyes yet again. Joe Ellis, founder of Blue Tulip was formerly a partner in Swoozies. This is not a coincidence. I would bet he owns stock again.
David Cully put Egghead Software, Lechters, and now Blue Tulip into chapter 11. He makes six figures and is rewarded or his brilliance. Go figure?
I also worked for Blue Tulip, for a little over four years. Mr. Malbrook hit it right on. Not only were Blue Tulip’s business model and expansion plans flawed, but anyone with a right mind would question who was running the company. The VP was horrendus and she had no business at all being in that position. The same could be said for a few others.
The areas Blue Tulip opened in could not be more off the mark. The merchandised purchased was horrible. They never, never ranked anything! Inventory was never accurate. This one is my favorite, Blue Tulip was not competive at all.
That attitude helped the company fail.
I agree with the people here who are actually my ex co-workers. I too saw first hand how the company made bad decisions after more bad decisions. The VP was truly, truly horrible. The fact that this company went through 3 CEO’s in such a short time is appalling. Swoozies is in for a shock here, they’re offering LESS than minimum wage to work in their Northeast stores, which of course, is illegal and will realize soon enough that’s not what wages are up here.
Blue Tulip was the best company I have ever worked for. Although I would never wish for a company to plummet, I do not see great success in the locations Swoozies has taken over.
For everyone who has knocked Blue Tulip, you should all really think about what you are saying. I have been into Swoozies once, an acquisition of one of the NE stores, and it was the most atrocious display of merchandising, customer service, and employee knowledge. Any member of the Blue Tulip TEAM would be appalled at what they saw.
Swoozies will not survive in the NE, not with their pay, their shipment, their lack of knowledge, and failure to tend to one of the most needy populations I’ve ever seen. Sincerely…Good luck.
As a previous employee and customer of Blue Tulip, I feel that the real loser here is the consumer. Watching my community embrace the Blue Tulip product in an area where there was no other quality gift store was amazing. Soon after my departure, I personally watched and heard from my old customers how repetitive and cheap the product offering became. This was not the Blue Tulip they loved – once offering unique and fabulous gifts – now massing out the same product over and over again. I fear that Swoozie’s will just be an extension of this concept. As Anonymous commented – when “the man” left – so did the true vision of Blue Tulip and what made it successful. The passion was gone – which effected the product, the employee and the customer’s response.
I hope that Swoozie’s upper management embraces the comments here and brings back the greatness that their Blue Tulip customer is looking for.
I’d like to address another problem that I have had in the past with Swoozies. I am a vendor who has sold to Swoozies for a few years. They have been increasingly delinquent in paying invoices and there is absolutely no one willing to speak to us from their accounts payable department. Net 30 invoices were not paid for at least 120 days and only then, I believe that we received payment only because they wanted to place another order. Now they have assumed another company that’s gone into bankruptcy. Wonder what THAT will do for their ability or willingness to pay on time?
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