Now that we’ve all begun spinning like whirling dervishes over the absurdity of vendors allowing massive debt to accumulate with Swoozies, the fallout is beginning to take shape. Here’s the scorecard thus far; if you have additions (and can back them up with a vendor email, website, or confirmable third party source), please post them in the Comments section.
1. Mud Pie $ 865,852.71
> Raised cash by selling minority portion of company to equity firm Lineage Capital (article here)
2. Design Design 352,268.51
> According to company president, Don Kallil, the company is able to absorb the loss (see his 4/22/10 comment posted here)
3. FedEx 300,290.65
4. Heart Strings 283,440.40
5. Creative Containers 234,283.84
6. Crane & Co. 227,856.38
7. Innovative Packaging 206,337.20
8. Inviting Company 204,394.85
9. Patience Brewster 197,051.94
10. Peking Handicraft 197,051.94
11. Dennis East International 173,123.53
12. Cross-My-Heart-Cards 160,787.86
> Has gone out of business due to Swoozie’s losses, as explained in 4/7/10 email to retail accounts
> UPDATE 5.12.10: Roseanne Beck Collections will have three booths at NSS…?
13. Oh Sugar! 147,504.44
14. William Arthur 129,746.20
15. Lifeguard Press 123,029.54
16. Hilco Real Estate 115,067.17 (Lease, Northbrook IL)
17. AmEx 113,743.05
18. MS. Dee / Molly ‘n Me 111,236.76
19. Print Appeal 109,019.93
20. Berman Enterprises 103,772.98 (Lease, Rockville MD)
21. Caspari 101,766.79
22. San Lori Designs 98,955.98
23. Natural Life 89,184.62
24. Lady Jane Ltd. 81,023.02
25. Morgan & Company 80,768.60
26. Recycled Paper Greetings 73,871.05
27. Opus Real Estate 67,820.16
28. Room It Up (Prime Source) 62,950.45
29. Cov II DDR Trademark 62,950.45 (Lease, Dallas TX)
30. Anna Griffin Invitations 62,451.89
31. ShopperTrak RCT Corp. 61,442.12 (Mall traffic analysis group)
32. Tri Coastal Design 58,679.67
33. The Orb Factory Ltd. 58,673.17
34. New Dimensions 56,815.36
35. Hog Wild 56,384.00
36. American Greetings 55,953.85
37. Long Grove Confectionery 53,082.11
38. Melissa & Doug LLC 51,692.83
39. B*Posh 49,025.08
Click here to tell me what you think....
For a chain of Swoozie’s size, a portion of these vendors could be victims of non-payment for a large, one-time order. Until we know better, stating categorically that all of these vendors allowed debt to accumulate may be inaccurate.
Editor’s note: Given the types of products each of these vendor produces, none would come remotely close to the “one-time” or single item category, with the possible single exception of the market research firm. The lease payments are easily multiple months; the remaining vendor debts are, quite definitively, the result of hundreds of unpaid invoices being carried over an undefined period of time.
I also just heard from a rep that one of the owners of Swoozies with new investors is in the process of restarting to open their 10 most profitable stores! May just be “word on the street” but I wonder if those same vendors will continue to sell to them….
Yesterday was Swoozie’s last day of business and now swoozies.com has a message that says “The Real Swoozie’s is back. Stay tuned.” Does anybody have any info?