I know many of you have been following this on other blogs but the situation now seems to be as follows:
- Authentic Music based in Milton Keynes has been bought by Kingsway Communications operating from Eastbourne.
- Authentic Book Publishing and 8 Wesley Owen Stores (Bath Birmingham, Bristol, Bromley, Coleraine, Derby, Glasgow and York ) have been sold to Koorong. Based in Sydney, Koorong has 18 stores throughout Australia. It has purchased all of the Authentic and Paternoster intellectual property and author contracts, the freehold properties in Glasgow and York, the Wesley Owen trading name, and the domain name, wesleyowen.com. They plan to continue to operate from the Milton Keynes area.
- STL Distribution has been purchased by John Ritchie Ltd a book publisher and distributor based in Kilmarnock, Scotland. The business will continue to trade as STL Distribution.
- A further 6 Wesley Owen stores (Bolton, Cambridge, Coventry, Guildford, Kingston and Stockport) have been acquired by CLC International (UK) whose stores operate as CLC Bookshops.
- There are ongoing discussions with local groups interested in retaining their local Christian Bookshop. In the meantime the administrators are continuing to trade from each of the remaining 26 stores.
Distinct Reflections 