Comments on: Swoozies files bankruptcy

By: Hooray in Paoli, PA

Hooray in Paoli, PA — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:57:15 +0000

I have to say that I am so very happy that Swoozie’s is out of Paoli, PA. Hopefully their exit will make room for another spot similar to the Blue Tulip caliber. Last year I arrived at what I thought would be the highlight of my day — a Blue Tulip store in Paoli, PA only to find what I consider a watered down version of once was. I walked in the store and was shocked and unimpressed by the lack of invitation selections, and cheezy looking gifts that lacked uniqueness. I don’t miss them one bit. Despite my feelings, please know that I am sorry that so many were hurt in this deal.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:56:32 +0000

I am in…thanks to one of my reps that had me pull up this website. I spoke with my rep for CMH yesterday morning and she has lost thousands in commission that she worked so hard for and now will never see. We had written up a few thousand dollar order in my store about 4-6 weeks ago and I had put it on hold until we could get together again and go through everything (since they had not updated a catalog or their website in forever). CMH called several times to try to get a CC to put on file and get out the order. Thank goodness I went with my gut on this one and stood firm on wanting to see each item again before letting the order ship!

By: Heather L

Heather L — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:52:27 +0000

What a disaster – we’ve hung in there for over 5 years as a small retailer and I’m worried about what this is going to do to some of our favorite vendors that appear on the creditors list of Swoozies. Here is a link to an article about their bankruptcy that i found interesting. it also has a lit of the creditors and how much they are owed. http://www.burbageweddell.com/2010/03/02/swoozies-bankruptcy-information/

Editor’s note: Our policy is to remove outbound links from comment posts, but this one merits sharing.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:45:47 +0000

Also not everybody has heard from Cross My Heart we tried to call all week and all we get is we‘re taking inventory. It is time retailers get together and stand up to the vendors. With out us they would not have any business. We need a strong retail group.

By: Cinda Baxter

Cinda Baxter — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:27:18 +0000

Bill, you’re not the only one talking about vendors paying rent to retailers for shelf space. That’s an idea I hear pop up quite frequently these days, based heavily on how the grocery industry functions.

Personally, I’ve always wondered why stationery stores have to pay for the sample albums custom print vendors produce. It’s one thing if the customer can purchase the item itself, but when the “item” is a collection of samples, well….. That really *isn’t* all that different from what happens in rep showrooms and booths, now is it?

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:21:04 +0000

It is a shame that manufacturers don’t listen to there customers. In the personalize business, you need an owner in the store to run that department. Would you rather sit with a 20 year old part time employee or somebody who does this for a living. Also, to the manufacturers listen to people who have been in business. One day you will have to pay rent in the stores like you do in the showrooms, if you keep sell direct to our customers. When we first got in to the business we worked as a team now we work against each other. Lets go back to helping the brick and mortar stores, stay in business. Stop selling direct and work with your stores.

By: Cinda Baxter

Cinda Baxter — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:01:26 +0000

Sadly, the first domino appears to have fallen.

Cross My Heart (invitations) has notified retailers that they’ve closed due to the financial damage done by Swoozie’s. Not surprising since they’re number 12 on the list of the 50 companies owed the most money, clocking in just shy of $161,000.

As much as I like the people at CMH, I still have to ask: You let Swoozie’s go $161,000 deep on invoices? Seriously?

It’s hard to feel sympathy for vendors who turned a blind eye to such whopping high numbers at the same time so many independents are being called on the carpet for $150 invoices running a week overdue. Very hard.

By: Dianne W.

Dianne W. — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:45:02 +0000

We DID get OUR MONEY…!!!! Why…??? We took them to court…YAY…!!! Otherwise, we would have been a victim too. I did EVERYTHING I could to get them to pay. I was nice, I begged, I was sarcastic, I was mean, I even told them, “Shame on YOU”…!! Of course, nothing helped. SO….after many months of trying to get paid, we just filed a complaint with our local court in Nov. and they paid….At the last minute…LOL..So happy we did this.

I even ask the buyer…..”HOW can you keep placing orders with innocent vendors KNOWING that they won’t get paid and still sleep at night”..???…..It’s such a shame that they chose to keep taking products from unsuspecting vendors. And I KNEW we were not the only ones they would not pay. Vendors exchange info at market and I heard so many bad comments about them not paying. On behalf of Blue Tulip, we also sold to them for several years and they ALWAYS paid us ON TIME…Even the month before they went out of buisness. So it seems that Blue Tulip did at least have good ethical and caring business practices, unlike Swoozie’s. I feel bad for so many of the smaller companies who, I’m sure, this caused a great hardship.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 02:41:31 +0000

So sad how so many of the vendors who supplied Swoozies with products will be closing their doors due to the debt owed to them by Swoozies greed. I think we will be seeing gift and stationery suppliers closing their doors, with these huge losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Is there anyway to obtain a list which shows all debt owed? I would be curious to see one year from now how many of these companies close their doors.

Swoozies big mistake was going to the NE. Why do companies feel that expansion is the only direction? Is it greed? Is it a power trip? The sad thing is, that this “greed” or “power trip” will be affecting so many people, as we now there will be a huge domino effect.

Not to “toot my own horn” but I posted that the move to the Northeast was a big mistake and also posted this” “I guess time will tell, my feeling is next year at this time we will be saying goodbye to Swoozie’s.” This was from Feb. 7th, 2009.

By: invitation

invitation — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 10:27:36 +0000

You are correct,long time small retailers saw this one coming quite some time ago,and it doesn’t bode well for the rest of us. I personally know of several small stationers that have gone under recently or are about to do so. I even went so far last year as to email Swoosies about restructuring the way they operated their small store area designed for writing custom invitations,which was so badly laid out it looked like an afterthought. This whole fiasco will most certainly have a ripple effect on all of us