Oh nooooooooooooo!!!!

These are the words I cried as I opened a letter and read it this morning.

Now, there have been several scrapbooking shops that have closed their doors in 2006 and while that is sad, their closure hasn't really affected me (selfish cow! LOL!!!!). Because I run my own scrapbooking company where I'm constantly organising retreats and seminars and crops, 98% of what I buy is wholesale. My 'shops' and my shopping expertise is with the distributors in this country.

So imagine my groans when the fabulous fabulous Trading Memories wrote to me this morning to tell me that they are closing their doors in January. Trading Memories are the UK's main supplier of Bazzill cardstock (so now I'm panicking a bit about where I'll get my Bazzill from). She also sells Bazzill albums (which I really like) and papers like PaperLoft, as well as Fiskars products. But more importantly than all that, they are a distributor that I can rely on.

Kathy (the owner) is pleasant, efficient, friendly, efficient and did I mention 'efficient'?. If you order something with her it's with you the next day most often, and certainly the day after if not. She never mucks up the orders (not with me anyway). She's always got 95% of her stock actually IN STOCK, and if it isn't in stock, it's due in within days (truly) because it's on its way over from the States. When you're trying to pull together a seminar with a specific theme, with specifically designed classes that fit around that specific theme, and the date of the seminar is approaching, it is really really very difficult when distributors don't have the items in stock. This hasn't happened with Trading Memories. *big sigh as Chrissie shakes her head and wonders if she can persuade them stay open!*

Trading Memories is BY FAR AND AWAY the best distributor I deal with. No question.

I know Kathy in real life too, and she's great. Her new baby boy was born a couple of weeks ago (congrats the Weeks family!) and I'm sure that has probably played a huge part in their decision. But I for one will be very sorry to see them go.