BlueSky Brands Shuts Down
It's happened again. Even though we don't cover merchant business, here's a story that's too big to ignore -- and includes news of the closing of fulfillment house AB&C, which is fair game for this blog, in any case.
According to Multichannel Merchant magazine, BlueSky Brands, the North Kingstown, RI-based parent company of the Paragon Gifts, Bits and Pieces, Bits and Pieces U.K., National Wildlife Direct, and Winterthur catalogs, which also owns McLean, VA-based third-party fulfillment provider AB&C Group, shut down on March 14.
There were reports that BlueSky Brands was going to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but there was no record of such a filing at the magazine's newsletter press time. Repeated calls by the magazine to BlueSky Brands CEO Robert Pulciani, Reliant Equity Investors, and all of the catalog titles were not returned.
Former AB&C employees report that the company’s distribution centers in Martinsburg, and Orange, WV, were closed Friday afternoon. The facilities employed about 400 people; many had not been paid in at least three weeks. The Martinsburg Journal reported this morning that at least two laid-off AB&C Group employees are going to court to recover their wages
The Website of New London, CT-based The Day, reported on March 16 that The Paragon catalog closed its doors Friday afternoon at its North Kingstown, RI, headquarters and shut down its Westerly, RI, call center two weeks ahead of schedule. (The Westerly operation was to be relocated to AB&C's Martinsburg facility by the end of this month.)
As for BlueSky Brands’ other catalogs, the Bits and Pieces Website has the same message as The Paragon’s site: "Our site is temporarily unavailable due to routine maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please try us again, we will be back shortly."
A spokesperson for Winterthur--the Delaware museum/country estate of Henry Francis du Pont--tells the Westerly Sun that once the organization became aware of BlueSky’s challenges, it terminated its licensing agreement with the firm on March 13.
The National Wildlife Federation Website doesn’t indicate that anything is amiss with the direct arm. But it notes that the organization has licensed its name and logo to Bluesky Brands and receives a 5% royalty fee for the sale of each catalog item. National Wildlife Direct contributes a minimum of $1 million a year to National Wildlife Federation."
BlueSky Brands was established as a holding company in 2005 when Chicago-based private equity firm Reliant Equity Investors acquired The Paragon Gift Holdings, parent of gifts titles The Paragon and Bits and Pieces, from a group of private investors. It bought AB&C Group and the direct businesses for Winterthur and National Wildlife in 2006.
According to Multichannel Merchant magazine, BlueSky Brands, the North Kingstown, RI-based parent company of the Paragon Gifts, Bits and Pieces, Bits and Pieces U.K., National Wildlife Direct, and Winterthur catalogs, which also owns McLean, VA-based third-party fulfillment provider AB&C Group, shut down on March 14.
There were reports that BlueSky Brands was going to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but there was no record of such a filing at the magazine's newsletter press time. Repeated calls by the magazine to BlueSky Brands CEO Robert Pulciani, Reliant Equity Investors, and all of the catalog titles were not returned.
Former AB&C employees report that the company’s distribution centers in Martinsburg, and Orange, WV, were closed Friday afternoon. The facilities employed about 400 people; many had not been paid in at least three weeks. The Martinsburg Journal reported this morning that at least two laid-off AB&C Group employees are going to court to recover their wages
The Website of New London, CT-based The Day, reported on March 16 that The Paragon catalog closed its doors Friday afternoon at its North Kingstown, RI, headquarters and shut down its Westerly, RI, call center two weeks ahead of schedule. (The Westerly operation was to be relocated to AB&C's Martinsburg facility by the end of this month.)
As for BlueSky Brands’ other catalogs, the Bits and Pieces Website has the same message as The Paragon’s site: "Our site is temporarily unavailable due to routine maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please try us again, we will be back shortly."
A spokesperson for Winterthur--the Delaware museum/country estate of Henry Francis du Pont--tells the Westerly Sun that once the organization became aware of BlueSky’s challenges, it terminated its licensing agreement with the firm on March 13.
The National Wildlife Federation Website doesn’t indicate that anything is amiss with the direct arm. But it notes that the organization has licensed its name and logo to Bluesky Brands and receives a 5% royalty fee for the sale of each catalog item. National Wildlife Direct contributes a minimum of $1 million a year to National Wildlife Federation."
BlueSky Brands was established as a holding company in 2005 when Chicago-based private equity firm Reliant Equity Investors acquired The Paragon Gift Holdings, parent of gifts titles The Paragon and Bits and Pieces, from a group of private investors. It bought AB&C Group and the direct businesses for Winterthur and National Wildlife in 2006.
Labels: Vendors
posted by Ernie Schell at 4:46 PM
27 Comments:
Shame on Blue Sky Brands..
Im a former employee of AB&C Group in the Orange VA call center. Its a shame the way Blue Sky did the employee's, leaving them without notice or the last few weeks of pay. I hope they get what is coming to them, for such behavior.
I am A Vendor for BlueSky Brands. When Reliant took over and set up BlueSky to run these catalogs it was obvious from day one they were either milking the business or had no idea what they were doing. We are out a lot of money which we will probably never see a dime. Shame on Reliant. When their account became over due I could never get anyone at the catalog or Reliant to even answer the phone for months. Great way to do business. I hope Reliant is held accountable for what they did to the employees as far as vendors I think we are screwed.
For those that don't know, all of BSB's businesses were shut down over the last few weeks. The CEO, CFO, and CIO "left abruptly" on January 4th this year. Over the last 4 weeks, the company first fired all Paragon staff, the following week they fired all Winterthur and National Wildlife Direct staff, and the week following that fired the remaining corporate staff (at that point mostly accountants), all Bits and Pieces staff, and all AB&C staff. In AB&C's case, many people had not been paid in 3 weeks, and some Googling shows a lawsuit against BSB by some of the former employees (other BSB ex-employees take note). As of today there is no Chapter 11 filing for the company, and no plans I know of to try to ressurrect the company.
The company began its downward spiral as early as mid-2006 while under the leadership of ex-CEO Rich hebert and ex-CFO Philip Wax. The telling day was when a company wide edict went out that no vendor was to be paid for a minimum of 6 months from the receipt of any invoice. Things worsened from there... maybe it was trying to expand too quickly without the proper financing in place to support it, maybe it was financial mis-management, maybe it was the short-sighted vision that the Paragon would be a cash cow that would finance these ventures... at this point, it's simply a shame to have watched once profitable and exciting companies to work for be driven into the ground by management that either didn't know what they were doing, or simply didn't care outside of the cash going into their own wallets.
Thank you, Anonymous 3, for this additional information.
The ex-CEO has a history of driving companies into the ground and straving the vendors with late payments while he maintains a high standard of living.
Hopefully, one day his less than ethical business practices will catch up with him.
Forme BlueSky CEO Rich Hebert was appointed CEO of The Bradford Group on 1/11/08
Good luck to The Bradford Group. This guy is bad news and I am certain will run them into the ground - much like he has many others.
Rich Hebert - is a scum bag! The board of directors that hired him at The Bradford Group must not have performed their due diligence. He will continue to take from companies and run them into the ground while ruining the lives of the empployees and traveling the world at the expense of the company.
I will miss Bits and Pieces very much. But my heart goes out to the associates that lost their job. I have been through the same thing with a CEO who takes a company down. Somthing must be done to stop this type of management.
And what about the poor customers! I ordered from this company National Wildlife Direct and my card was charged but the merchandise was so inferior that I returned it. Now where is it - floating around? And will I EVER be reimbursed? That was a hard lesson. I can't afford to throw $300 to the wind!!!
Someone needs to get their facts straight here. From what I understand, Rich Hebert resigned in November of 2007, after Reliant rejected YET ANOTHER offer from a buyer that would have allowed the businesses to continue to run and grow. Not a single publication has gotten this right, instead writing that he "resigned abruptly" in January. The reporters haven't bothered to get the facts about what really happened. Have any of them even bothered to contact him? I know from an inside source very close to management that he was asked to stay on until January and agreed, even though it was far longer than he had planned. Sounds like people are being led to believe that he just up and left without any notice and that's not what happened.
No one is happy about what happened to the company, but the people to be mad at are Reliant. From everything I've heard and observed, Rich Hebert is a very smart and extremely hard working CEO. He identified good companies to buy and worked well with the management to make sure they were run properly. Several of the published stories even make the point that the businesses were doing better, with better product and creative.
Reliant did not make good on their promises. They did not put up the money they were supposed to and instead borrowed way too much to buy the companies. Rich and Phil Wax (the CFO) found at least two different groups who wanted to invest in BlueSky but Reliant turned them down. Reliant is to blame for the downfall of the company.
Also, I've heard from very reliable sources that Rich, Phil and a bunch of other managers have not been paid a ton of money they are owed, including being reimbursed for their travel expenses. So much for managers "traveling the world" on the company's dime!
What "many others" are you referring to when you say that Rich has ruined other companies? Prove it. And if you can't, you should refrain from posting this kind of accusation. From what I can tell, the last two companies he worked for before Blue Sky are both still in business and doing well.
BSB should be charged with embezzelment. Employees had dollars deducted from their paychecks that were supposed to go into 401K plans and Aflac reimbursement accounts. The monies were never deposited by BSB. This should be a federal offense.
Sandra,
Call your credit card company and explain the problem. They will help you dispute the charge on the basis that you returned product to a now-defunct company and never received the refund. The charge will be removed from your account although it may take 30 days or so.
Re the 401K plans, do you know how far back this goes? Was it just the last pay period, or had this been going on for a while? Ditto for the AFLAC deductions?
Also, I have heard that there were employees who left the company and were still covered under the health plan through COBRA (which they paid for out of pocket and it's very expensive) who paid the premiums and found out later that the policy had been cancelled. Now they are having trouble getting their money back from ADP, which was the organization that collected the premiums and disbursed them to Delta Dental and BCBS.
What should/can someone do if they wrote a check for merchandise never received? My check was cashed 10 days after I sent it but no merchandise!
As a former employee of National Wildlife Federation and then BlueSky Brands. It was obvious from the day that BlueSky Brands bought the rights to NWF catalog in August 2006 that they had no idea how to run a company, much less a catalog. By November of 2006 the computer inventory system was changed over and dismantled and stock was transferred with no auditing. Within a year, the vendors had not been paid and we had stock sitting on the docks ready to be auctioned off. It was plain to see that Rich Hebert and the other officers were just another venture capitalist company looking to pad their pocks without any concern about what the long term outlook for the company was. Bankruptcy was written on the walls for all to see within the first six months.
What is truly sad however, is that they destroyed two wonderful non-profit catalogs and their relationships with their supporters. I personally think the CEO and CFO should be held responsible.
Rich - how sad it is that you (or a family member) have to ananymously write to defend yourself - oh how the mighty have fallen!!
Blue Sky Brands screwed alot of people and the employees in the Call Centers were told what to say to customers about their orders, refunds etc. in other words we were given a bunch of lies to feed to the customers
"Rich Hebert is a smart and very hard working CEO"......are you kidding me? Only his mother or wife would say that. He has run several companies into the ground and can't be trusted - good luck to you if you truly believe that!
Gifts and games cataloger Bits and Pieces--one of the casualties of the BlueSky Brands fiasco--has been sold, several sources have told MULTICHANNEL MERCHANT. Terms of the deal are not known, but the buyer is horticultural supplies cataloger "Gardens Alive!" Sources indicate many of the former Bits and Pieces staffers have been hired back.
Despite numerous reports that BlueSky Brands was going to file Chapter 11, there have been no bankruptcy filings for the company, according to Multichannel Merchant. Chicago-based private equity firm Reliant Equity Investors owns BlueSky Brands.
Does anyone have recent information regarding bankruptcy? I am a vendor who is owed a large sum of money and have not heard a word.
In response to the above writer than asks has anyone contacted Rich Hebert to get the real story. Perhaps you can provide the readers of this forum with his phone number or his home address so that he can be contacted to obtain the "real truth".
Let me see if I can get contact information...
try contacting hebert at Rhebert@bgeltd.com that's his email at his new CEO spot
I tried to contact Rich at his residence in Maryland - he no longer lives there as he abandoned his wife and children.
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