Deseret Book set to break off its wholesale relationship with Seagull Book & Tape
Interesting news out of my former employer today...
Today at high noon (on the anniversary of the martyrdom) Deseret Book management, in their regularly monthly Q&A session with employees, announced that they were terminating their business relationship with Seagull Book & Tape. Seagull was given written notice yesterday that thirty-days hence Deseret Book would no longer offer them their product line (at wholesale), and that in the interim they would only be able to place orders for product on-hand/in inventory (i.e., no backorders or pre-orders for products coming out this fall).
This is going to be an interesting situation to observe as it unfolds. Obviously Deseret Book has every right to choose who they want to do business with. However, I think this change will (eventually) rival the Bookcraft acquisition in terms of the rippling repercussions it will have on the industry.
Disclaimer: I've heard from multiple people who were present at the Q&A, and while employees were asked to direct any questions/inquiries to a member of the executive team, they were not asked to keep the news confidential/in-house. (Which makes sense since barring any last minute changes or negotiations by the parties it'll become quite obvious in the marketplace in at most a couple of weeks.)
—Michael A. Cleverly
Tuesday, June 27, 2006 at 21:27
Is Deseret Book back to their evil ways again? Or is Seagull not playing nice? something to ponder
On a side note: I cam across my LDSBA membership certificate from 1996. That was when Zarahemla Book Shoppe was up and running. I think someone else is using the name now.
Wed, 28 Jun 2006, 11:07