Anti-Competitive?
June 11th, 2008 by Vanessa
If a bookshop opened up the street would HarperCollins, Walker Books, Gardners and Betrams the wholesalers, Hodder et all refuse to supply them with books because we’re nearby and we already stock their books? Of course they wouldn’t.
So why is it that greetings card suppliers keep refusing to sell us cards because there’s a shop a few doors up that they already supply? We don’t plan to sell many; just a smallish spinner with a few dozen cards for children’s birthdays, christenings and the like, together with some wrapping paper. Lots of people buy books from us and ask for these things and it seems sensible to me to stock them.
But continually we seem to find a company that has some suitable cards – like Woodmansterne’s Roald Dahl collection which couldn’t be more appropriate for us – and yet they refuse to sell to us. Absolutely bl**dy ridiculous! The nearest card shop sells a few Winnie the Pooh books but do I complain? Of course not, that’s fair competition.
I’m baffled and irritated. If anyone reading this can recommend a card supplier or indeed is a card supplier – do get in touch.
On a brighter note, you see that lovely picture up there by Catherine Rayner? We’re going to be stocking some of her cards and as she is the illustrator and author of some of our favourite picture books, I imagine they’ll go down a storm.
Just a thought….the Bodleian does a nice line of wrapping paper/cards that have their collections of vintage children’s books as the illustration…here’s a link to their trade sales.
http://shop.bodley.ox.ac.uk/acatalog/Trade_Sales.html
They sell to the bookshop round the corner from me here in Boston, Massachusetts, so I expect getting the goods to Edinburgh wouldn’t be an issue!
Hey,
i’m sorry to hear about this stupid situation. Imagine the same thing happening in London! (I know you hate London). We have cards from Art Group (whose customer service so far is absolutely rubbish), and a local card maker called Karen Costelloe, who makes wonderful cards that are worth every penny. I bet you could find some local card makers who wouldn’t be too worried about suppying more than one shop in the vicinity.
Go local is always my advice.
x
Agree with Simon – there are bound to be plenty of local card makers out there. I used to make cards myself and sell to local galleries, and I put a name and address sticker on the back of each card. You could also try local art colleges, who might be interested in doing cards for you as a project.
What about Canns Down Press? They have a good website and I know they do Edward Ardizzone cards from his “Little Tim and The Brave Sea Captain” books.There are others that might be suitable too and they do wrapping paper.
Just what I thought too, I might have a word in the ear of a friend of mine who makes cards and send her your way.
Another thought Phoenix cards are great and they use individuals to sell them, they might sell to you.
Sounds like a marvellous opportunity for some local artist to get in on the act – what about a letter to the editor in the Scotsman?
I think it’s an absolutely ridiculous situation! Whenever I go into a book shop, I expect to see a range of cards and paper.They are a natural addition to books. Present = book + card! Don’t these suppliers want to sell their cards?!