Archive for the ‘SSG’ Category
Posted by unicorntreebooksboss on 25 March, 2009
So my coffee was almost spoiled, but I asked for a shot of caramel in it to take away the bitter taste of the twitter and things immediately felt better after that! (after all if life is about choices then choosing not to hold on to anger should probably count as a good choice! even with the extra calories attached!).
So I found out one (the main one! – you know the one with the systems issues, yes them – IdiotBuiltSystem-StuffedTheLeadtimes!) of the Christian book wholesalers over here are going to be chainging their name soon it would appear!
(Thanks to Fellow Twitter @notbovvered Fuller info can now be found on his excellent blog – Christianbookshopsblog.org.uk)
But also they are doing things like looking to lay off staff and then seemingly doing a recruitment drive and asking for volunteers, in what seems to me to be to in effect fill those paid staffers positions, and then claiming to be 100% Charity!
Well sorry to me that’s playing a foul semantics card.
100% charity does not involve looking for ways to make your life/business better at the expense of people you are meant to have a duty to care for!!
Add to that given it is a commercial business (albeit a registered charity!) it’s trickery to try to convince the customers that through supporting them 100% goes to charity – actaully it doesn’t as most of it goes on admin, stock, overheads etc – very little of the customers spend makes it to the charity component – I should know I spent 14 years working for the same sort of retail/publishing/worldwide charity as these folks – and believe me the final sum going to the missions was less than 5% ! So again it’s misleading and unfair to make these sorts of claims and do this sort of thing.
Heck my business isn’t a charity – it provides for me, my family and staff with not much left over – and then most of that goes to the taxman as I render unto ceasar, but I give willingly to charity from that money because yes it is the right thing to do – and yes I have a nominated charity for my shop, and this year even though times are tough I am still giving – and last year I gave too, twice in fact! This is not to brag, but it’s to point out that saying 100% charity is not saying anything if it isn’t backed up by real action, (Mark 12:42) if you have thousands and give little, or have little and give as much as you can – well draw your own conclusions.
Again this issue is the unfairness and biasedness of the situation, the misuse of words and ethics to deliberately report something in a way not absolutely honestly truthful, but rather its propoganda marketing and spin if you ask me and if that makes sense! Seems to me some Christian Bookshop Chains & Charities seem to be loosing the concept somewhere, as this one seems to using the same secular and what to me seem to be somewhat ethically dubious activities such as we last saw demonstrated by SSG (SPCK/SSG as they were when they first tried the volunteer trick!). Shame that really.
So the question I ask all of you – and please do comment! – is:
Is it fair for charities running commercial & retail businesses to compete claiming 100% charity?
Oh and let me clearly state that in this I refer to businesses other than pure ‘charity shops’ that sell on only donated secondhand goods for the most part!
I mean businesses that really are full on retail and commercial businesses operating exactly the same as their secular counterparts – except of course for their registered charitable status.
ok, last thing, I am now truly a twit!
that is to say i am now on twitter.com, so if any of you are also on there and want to chat/follow or be followed then you can find me at: @unicorntreebks
Anyway that’s it for now – see you in the shop tomorrow and if you inhabit cybersphere only then don’t forget you can shop through our A-shop and support us that way too – and feel free to donate to our nominated charity at any time!
Posted in bibles, books, charity, Christian, Christian Books, customers, gifts, giving, IBS-STL, News, promotions, questions, spck, SSG | 1 Comment »
Posted by unicorntreebooksboss on 25 March, 2009
So my coffee was almost spoiled, but I asked for a shot of caramel in it to take away the bitter taste of the twitter and things immediately felt better after that! (after all if life is about choices then choosing not to hold on to anger should probably count as a good choice! even with the extra calories attached!).
So I found out one (the main one! – you know the one with the systems issues, yes them – IdiotBuiltSystem-StuffedTheLeadtimes!) of the Christian book wholesalers over here are going to be chainging their name soon it would appear!
(Thanks to Fellow Twitter @notbovvered Fuller info can now be found on his excellent blog – Christianbookshopsblog.org.uk)
But also they are doing things like looking to lay off staff and then seemingly doing a recruitment drive and asking for volunteers, in what seems to me to be to in effect fill those paid staffers positions, and then claiming to be 100% Charity!
Well sorry to me that’s playing a foul semantics card.
100% charity does not involve looking for ways to make your life/business better at the expense of people you are meant to have a duty to care for!!
Add to that given it is a commercial business (albeit a registered charity!) it’s trickery to try to convince the customers that through supporting them 100% goes to charity – actaully it doesn’t as most of it goes on admin, stock, overheads etc – very little of the customers spend makes it to the charity component – I should know I spent 14 years working for the same sort of retail/publishing/worldwide charity as these folks – and believe me the final sum going to the missions was less than 5% ! So again it’s misleading and unfair to make these sorts of claims and do this sort of thing.
Heck my business isn’t a charity – it provides for me, my family and staff with not much left over – and then most of that goes to the taxman as I render unto ceasar, but I give willingly to charity from that money because yes it is the right thing to do – and yes I have a nominated charity for my shop, and this year even though times are tough I am still giving – and last year I gave too, twice in fact! This is not to brag, but it’s to point out that saying 100% charity is not saying anything if it isn’t backed up by real action, (Mark 12:42) if you have thousands and give little, or have little and give as much as you can – well draw your own conclusions.
Again this issue is the unfairness and biasedness of the situation, the misuse of words and ethics to deliberately report something in a way not absolutely honestly truthful, but rather its propoganda marketing and spin if you ask me and if that makes sense! Seems to me some Christian Bookshop Chains & Charities seem to be loosing the concept somewhere, as this one seems to using the same secular and what to me seem to be somewhat ethically dubious activities such as we last saw demonstrated by SSG (SPCK/SSG as they were when they first tried the volunteer trick!). Shame that really.
So the question I ask all of you – and please do comment! – is:
Is it fair for charities running commercial & retail businesses to compete claiming 100% charity?
Oh and let me clearly state that in this I refer to businesses other than pure ‘charity shops’ that sell on only donated secondhand goods for the most part!
I mean businesses that really are full on retail and commercial businesses operating exactly the same as their secular counterparts – except of course for their registered charitable status.
ok, last thing, I am now truly a twit!
that is to say i am now on twitter.com, so if any of you are also on there and want to chat/follow or be followed then you can find me at: @unicorntreebks
Anyway that’s it for now – see you in the shop tomorrow and if you inhabit cybersphere only then don’t forget you can shop through our A-shop and support us that way too – and feel free to donate to our nominated charity at any time!
Posted in bibles, books, charity, Christian, Christian Books, customers, gifts, giving, IBS-STL, News, promotions, questions, spck, SSG | 5 Comments »
Posted by unicorntreebooksboss on 19 January, 2009
Yep yep – the pictures you see below this post are not now how we look in some part and by the end of the month will not be how we look at all!
yes indeed it’s true we are having a major overhaul and face lift – and yes no more would be comics out there with the ‘well boss you need’ it comments!
So anyway as you can well imagine the place is a bit of a mess as we move all the old stuff out and the new stuff in, rearrange units and change till points and displays, but by the end of the month it will be fantastic!
So far we have relocated all the New Fiction onto nice new units, and a tidy amount of the Secondhand fiction has also been rehomed as well.
We have the sale to end all sales going on at the minute as we have seriously culled both the secondhand fiction and the New Fiction and pulled out anything over 18 months old – these are now for sale at 10 secondhand for £5.00 or 5 New for £5.00.
Whicever way you look at it that’s some fantastic bargains going on there. The authors include Dan Brown, Arthur C Clarke, Audrey Howard and other top authors. Honest this is not dross just overstock we needed to shift to make room for the new units and stock!
So anyway Religious books are moving from their ‘stand alone and cannot be grown’ section in unit 3 over to the main bookstall – this way there is room for expansion – in fact there will be an extra 5 bays worth of space to expand into and some nice gift units and slat wall space as well – This will also put the Christian Books in a much more prominent thoroughfare than they are currently on – and the reason for this??
Because we are not ashamed!
In fact we are not ashamed of anything we do, including our LGBT section which has also been relocated in the move and this is now in a more prominent section as well – situated in the middle gondola of the main Fiction section rather than hidden in the corner!
we are not ashamed and we will not act as if we are – we will not apologise for our beliefs, for our friends or for our outreach!
That said we would like to announce that we are now also stocking Jewish Prayer Books and the Forms of Prayer, and we welcome all our friends from the Lincoln Branch of the Council of Christians and Jews to come by, it was good to meet you and be involved in a very small way with the ‘meditation of Advent and Chanukah’. Thank you.
Ok now also whilst I have your attention, Palm Crosses, Paschal Candles and the rest of the Lent/Easter paraphanalia are on order and in some cases even in stock! so NOW IS THE TIME to let me know exactly how many of what you want putting by!!
Pass the word around please – Lent Books are in and orders are being taken for Palms and Candles.
Thank you!
Ohh we counted how many jigsaw designs we had when we had to move them all for the new units! (These went fantastically well at Christmas and are still going well now, probably as we are one of the few places in Lincoln that does them, and we do them all year round and at very good prices as well!)
Anyway that would be just over the 100 mark! These span the gamault from 1500 piece puzzles down to the 8 piece childrens puzzles, with the most number being in the 500 piece range and then followed by the economy priced 1000 piece puzzles, though my favourites are the ones with the Gold and Silver highlighting – particularly the Indian Maid and Fawn one – just lovely! and then also the Shaped Fish & Dolphin Puzzle. Lots of different brands as well, Gibson Games, Jumbo, King, Paul Lamond Puzzles, Falcon, Heye, Classic Deluxe, Ravensburger and a few more as well!
Then there were the Paint By Numbers, both large, standard and small, and 2 different manufacturers styles in those as well. It certainly makes for colourful on top of the new units.
So anyway when the refit and rejig is done and about ten minutes after I stop doing my own victory jig all over the worklorn minions (who actaully have been working! and I have to admit may have some hidden architectural or interior design skills that have a lot to do with making best use of the tardis like propensity of the strange space in a Unicorn Tree domain! Thanks M1 & M2) then I will get out my camera and take new snappy snappies for you all who cannot come in and see it for yourselves.
See you in the shop soon – I am the one with 2 coffee’s on the go at the minute as one just doesn’t do it in a refit situation.
Posted in art, bibles, bodgitt and scarper, books, candles, cheap, Christian, Christian Books, church supplies, customers, diy, doctor who, dvd, erotica, fact, fantasy, fiction, gifts, jigsaws, lent, minions, New Product, News, paint by numbers, promotions, puzzle books, recycling, requisites., rumours, sci-fi, spck, SSG, thrillers, true life, Uncategorized, wordsearch | Tagged: bodgitt and scarper, books, candles, Christian Books, church supplies, crafts, customers, diy, dr who, fantasy, fiction, gifts, jigsaws, lent, minions, New Product, News, paint by numbers, promotions, puzzle books, recycling, requisites., sci-fi, spck, SSG, tardis, thrillers, true life, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by unicorntreebooksboss on 17 September, 2008
This is our dedicated Religious, Christian Books & Church Supplies Section!
Christmas is here! Gifts, jewellery, Cards, Bibles and Kids Bible Books!
Nativity Sets now in stock! Bibles, Theology, Spirituality, Ministry, General Christian Life Etc
Church Supplies! Candles, Wafers, Church Stationary, Incense, Christian Music, Cards, Gifts etc.
Here are a few pictures of us for those who follow along on the blog but can’t get in for whatever reason – as you will see we are a real bookshop for all we are open sided and open minded enough to be in a market hall.
Also you will note the picture of the Christian bit prove we have now moved into the pre-christmas season with lots of nativities and such now in stock – I challenge anyone out there who has recently been at meetings and have never been to see us to say we are not a real bookshop! Assuming makes… well we all know the adage! Come by and visit us and don’t make assumptions based on the word Market – Marks & Spencers Started in a market! Starbucks started in a market and so did lots more! The market is fully enclosed and filled with specialist stalls as well as the mundane! A Science-fiction and Movie Memorabilia collectible specialist is the market! The Stamp Man for rare & collectible Stamps, Coins, Postcards and other such rare, treasured & exclusive finds is in the market! Artist Supplies & bespoke framing is in the market – Wendy the artist on artist supplies is a professional artist who is regularly commissioned for cover art and private work! She paints in the market and does art tuition in the market! Then of course there is us – not just a bookstall but a niche market book specialist – we import US fiction on a weekly basis covering Crime, Thrillers, Romance, Science-Fiction, LGBT and other markets – we are one of the few in the greater county and further afield that does so! We deal in specialist markets such as transport and military history – DVD’s, Books & more! and of course there is my personal joy – our religious, christian & Church Supplies unit! Committed to serving Lincoln & Lincolnshire churches and faith communities, because no city should be without a Christian bookshop and resource centre.
Of course lets not forget Al’s Arts & Crafty Bits also in the market and part of us – one of lincolnshires best papercraft suppliers for the last 5 years now!
Market is just a word, no one scoffs at going to the Supermarket but yet going to a Market Hall denotes something less worthy, something to be scorned and lessened – well put aside your preconceived notions and come visit Lincoln Central Market – you will be surprised at just how many upmarket (see there’s that word again!) types pass through it and how many select customers it reaches out too – we have in the years I have now been here happily and repeatedly served on a weekly and monthly basis Judges, Bishops, MP’s, Councillors, Doctors, Actors and just everything else on down. There’s no shame in being in a market or visiting a market – the only shame is that some think there is and that’s no shame on us, its just ashame that some can’t work past a bias.
Ok rant over pictures following – enjoy and see you in the bookshop in the market tomorrow!
The Main Bookshop Pictures!
Science-Fiction, Horror, Military & Historical Fiction!
Large Print Books & Secondhand Crime & Thrillers Section
Our newest Niche Market -The LGBT Section – Small but growing!
The kids love to play in Pegasus Books! – Our Childrens section – almost impossible to keep tidy!
Autobiography, True Crime, and the beginning of Ladies & Saga Secondhand
Puzzles! Classic Literature, Secondhand Science-fiction & Horror
Always look up and not at your feet! Jigsaws, Paint-by-Numbers and lots more are up high!
Al’s Arts & Crafty Bits, opposite the religious bit! Decoupage, Stamps etc – a papercraft heaven!
Hello & Welcome in!
Outside for Ladies & General Fiction, Westerns & Romance, The Entrance for Paranormal & Historical Fiction, inside for Pegasus Kids Books, Crime, Thrillers, Science Fiction, LGBT, DVD’s, Audio Books, CD’s, Jigsaws, Games and Arts, Secondhand Books Sections and lots more – oh and inside and passing through and across the aisle for Al’s Arts & Crafty Bits and the Religious & Christian Books and Church Supplies!
Wow – not so little and yes very very real.
Posted in art, books, candles, childrens, Christian, christmas, church supplies, dvd, fiction, gifts, jigsaws, nativity, paint by numbers, puzzle books, requisites., sci-fi, spck, SSG, thrillers, wafers | 5 Comments »
Posted by unicorntreebooksboss on 17 September, 2008
This is our dedicated Religious, Christian Books & Church Supplies Section!
Christmas is here! Gifts, jewellery, Cards, Bibles and Kids Bible Books!
Nativity Sets now in stock! Bibles, Theology, Spirituality, Ministry, General Christian Life Etc
Church Supplies! Candles, Wafers, Church Stationary, Incense, Christian Music, Cards, Gifts etc.
Here are a few pictures of us for those who follow along on the blog but can’t get in for whatever reason – as you will see we are a real bookshop for all we are open sided and open minded enough to be in a market hall.
Also you will note the picture of the Christian bit prove we have now moved into the pre-christmas season with lots of nativities and such now in stock – I challenge anyone out there who has recently been at meetings and have never been to see us to say we are not a real bookshop! Assuming makes… well we all know the adage! Come by and visit us and don’t make assumptions based on the word Market – Marks & Spencers Started in a market! Starbucks started in a market and so did lots more! The market is fully enclosed and filled with specialist stalls as well as the mundane! A Science-fiction and Movie Memorabilia collectible specialist is the market! The Stamp Man for rare & collectible Stamps, Coins, Postcards and other such rare, treasured & exclusive finds is in the market! Artist Supplies & bespoke framing is in the market – Wendy the artist on artist supplies is a professional artist who is regularly commissioned for cover art and private work! She paints in the market and does art tuition in the market! Then of course there is us – not just a bookstall but a niche market book specialist – we import US fiction on a weekly basis covering Crime, Thrillers, Romance, Science-Fiction, LGBT and other markets – we are one of the few in the greater county and further afield that does so! We deal in specialist markets such as transport and military history – DVD’s, Books & more! and of course there is my personal joy – our religious, christian & Church Supplies unit! Committed to serving Lincoln & Lincolnshire churches and faith communities, because no city should be without a Christian bookshop and resource centre.
Of course lets not forget Al’s Arts & Crafty Bits also in the market and part of us – one of lincolnshires best papercraft suppliers for the last 5 years now!
Market is just a word, no one scoffs at going to the Supermarket but yet going to a Market Hall denotes something less worthy, something to be scorned and lessened – well put aside your preconceived notions and come visit Lincoln Central Market – you will be surprised at just how many upmarket (see there’s that word again!) types pass through it and how many select customers it reaches out too – we have in the years I have now been here happily and repeatedly served on a weekly and monthly basis Judges, Bishops, MP’s, Councillors, Doctors, Actors and just everything else on down. There’s no shame in being in a market or visiting a market – the only shame is that some think there is and that’s no shame on us, its just ashame that some can’t work past a bias.
Ok rant over pictures following – enjoy and see you in the bookshop in the market tomorrow!
The Main Bookshop Pictures!
Science-Fiction, Horror, Military & Historical Fiction!
Large Print Books & Secondhand Crime & Thrillers Section
Our newest Niche Market -The LGBT Section – Small but growing!
The kids love to play in Pegasus Books! – Our Childrens section – almost impossible to keep tidy!
Autobiography, True Crime, and the beginning of Ladies & Saga Secondhand
Puzzles! Classic Literature, Secondhand Science-fiction & Horror
Always look up and not at your feet! Jigsaws, Paint-by-Numbers and lots more are up high!
Al’s Arts & Crafty Bits, opposite the religious bit! Decoupage, Stamps etc – a papercraft heaven!
Hello & Welcome in!
Outside for Ladies & General Fiction, Westerns & Romance, The Entrance for Paranormal & Historical Fiction, inside for Pegasus Kids Books, Crime, Thrillers, Science Fiction, LGBT, DVD’s, Audio Books, CD’s, Jigsaws, Games and Arts, Secondhand Books Sections and lots more – oh and inside and passing through and across the aisle for Al’s Arts & Crafty Bits and the Religious & Christian Books and Church Supplies!
Wow – not so little and yes very very real.
Posted in art, books, candles, childrens, Christian, christmas, church supplies, dvd, fiction, gifts, jigsaws, nativity, paint by numbers, puzzle books, requisites., sci-fi, spck, SSG, thrillers, wafers | 5 Comments »
Posted by unicorntreebooksboss on 19 August, 2008
Today makes it exactly 2 years that I have in fact been the unicorntreebookshopboss!
Yes indeed on this day 2 years ago I did in fact sign over all the worldly goods I did not possess and indeed the hope of having them! in exchange for the messy little bookstall that was at the time browse awhile books! and now two years on it’s not so messy, not so little and indeed not so bad!
I am still impoverished and tortured by minions, but at least its my poverty and my minions and in exchange I have the ability to read whatever book I want ’cause I have thousands of them!
I have a range of speciality genres and markets that match my likes!
The newest of these of course being the Christian Books (completely with its own unit! see not so little!) and I am so glad to have these on board, to be able to spend some of each day discussing a subject I absolutely love is phenomenal and a real dream continuing on.
Today’s discussion was on the Shack and the imagery presented as to God and if it is indeed heretical and if so why?
This addition hasn’t come without pain and heartbreak, but what it has come with is a continuing commitment and fervour to serve and reach out, after all pretty much all my book career had been in this section of the book trade and leaving it was painful (though also thrilling and enjoyable on another level as I was moving into the sphere of all books and not just one section!) but I remained resolute and with God’s grace and a smidgen of faith in face of adversity it came to be that I got it back this year, lets hope that together we can all continue to grow it – oh and did I say that Advent Candles and Advent & Nativity Books and Christmas Play material came in this week?? No? well it did – so if you are a church then get in touch as we are now taking Advent & Christmas orders!
Then of course we have the Craft section – formerly an independent business in its own right this came into our safekeeping a year ago and now lends itself wonderfully to our creative talent discussions and displays – believe it or not I am in fact a whizz at tea-bag folding, usually after they have been dried out from the copious cups of tea needed to cope with minion antics! This is still called Al’s Arts & Crafty Bits, but of course its now housed in Unicorn Tree Books!
Next is the LGBT section which is continuing to build a following and reputation and expanding as time goes on. The yaoi manga has been going phenomenally well.
All in all I am pretty proud of the changes that the shop has undergone and hope that in the years to come these will continue to grow and develop as we go forward together in faith, hope and community commitment!
So as its a new year we have old news to report on and new resolutions to put forward!
So old news – our sponsored charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity was given £373.00 in the end, given our target was originally for £200 I think we did pretty well together!
Thank you all who gave their change, those 1p’s soon add up, as of course does the tithe we make from our sales – actually truth to be told that’s apportioned from the bookshopsboss wage as we still aren’t quite there enough to say its from the profits – its a commitment I made and so its one I keep!. We really do believe it is right to give to others when we can, as in giving we receive, even when we don’t know it or see it. After all sharing is caring!
So anyway this year we are continuing with the Children’s Hospital theme but this time its Alder Hay hospital that will be the recipient of our donations and tithes:
(though of course come October there will of course be our Christmas Charity to give to as well – last years Christmas Charity was Habitat for Humanity and we gave £50.00, lets hope we can give more this year when we decide on the Charity!).
So anyway I want to say thank you all for using us, supporting us and following along with us – if you want to come in and celebrate with us, then please do and remember my favourite celebration tipple is a Caramelatte from Nero’s or a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks!
Thanks guys for the last two years, and I look forward to serving and working with all of you in the next few ahead!
Posted in Book Reviews, books, candles, charity, childrens books, Christian Books, christmas, church supplies, customers, fact, fiction, gifts, giving, minions, nativity, New Product, News, spck, SSG | Leave a Comment »
Posted by unicorntreebooksboss on 19 August, 2008
Today makes it exactly 2 years that I have in fact been the unicorntreebookshopboss!
Yes indeed on this day 2 years ago I did in fact sign over all the worldly goods I did not possess and indeed the hope of having them! in exchange for the messy little bookstall that was at the time browse awhile books! and now two years on it’s not so messy, not so little and indeed not so bad!
I am still impoverished and tortured by minions, but at least its my poverty and my minions and in exchange I have the ability to read whatever book I want ’cause I have thousands of them!
I have a range of speciality genres and markets that match my likes!
The newest of these of course being the Christian Books (completely with its own unit! see not so little!) and I am so glad to have these on board, to be able to spend some of each day discussing a subject I absolutely love is phenomenal and a real dream continuing on.
Today’s discussion was on the Shack and the imagery presented as to God and if it is indeed heretical and if so why?
This addition hasn’t come without pain and heartbreak, but what it has come with is a continuing commitment and fervour to serve and reach out, after all pretty much all my book career had been in this section of the book trade and leaving it was painful (though also thrilling and enjoyable on another level as I was moving into the sphere of all books and not just one section!) but I remained resolute and with God’s grace and a smidgen of faith in face of adversity it came to be that I got it back this year, lets hope that together we can all continue to grow it – oh and did I say that Advent Candles and Advent & Nativity Books and Christmas Play material came in this week?? No? well it did – so if you are a church then get in touch as we are now taking Advent & Christmas orders!
Then of course we have the Craft section – formerly an independent business in its own right this came into our safekeeping a year ago and now lends itself wonderfully to our creative talent discussions and displays – believe it or not I am in fact a whizz at tea-bag folding, usually after they have been dried out from the copious cups of tea needed to cope with minion antics! This is still called Al’s Arts & Crafty Bits, but of course its now housed in Unicorn Tree Books!
Next is the LGBT section which is continuing to build a following and reputation and expanding as time goes on. The yaoi manga has been going phenomenally well.
All in all I am pretty proud of the changes that the shop has undergone and hope that in the years to come these will continue to grow and develop as we go forward together in faith, hope and community commitment!
So as its a new year we have old news to report on and new resolutions to put forward!
So old news – our sponsored charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity was given £373.00 in the end, given our target was originally for £200 I think we did pretty well together!
Thank you all who gave their change, those 1p’s soon add up, as of course does the tithe we make from our sales – actually truth to be told that’s apportioned from the bookshopsboss wage as we still aren’t quite there enough to say its from the profits – its a commitment I made and so its one I keep!. We really do believe it is right to give to others when we can, as in giving we receive, even when we don’t know it or see it. After all sharing is caring!
So anyway this year we are continuing with the Children’s Hospital theme but this time its Alder Hay hospital that will be the recipient of our donations and tithes:
(though of course come October there will of course be our Christmas Charity to give to as well – last years Christmas Charity was Habitat for Humanity and we gave £50.00, lets hope we can give more this year when we decide on the Charity!).
So anyway I want to say thank you all for using us, supporting us and following along with us – if you want to come in and celebrate with us, then please do and remember my favourite celebration tipple is a Caramelatte from Nero’s or a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks!
Thanks guys for the last two years, and I look forward to serving and working with all of you in the next few ahead!
Posted in Book Reviews, books, candles, charity, childrens books, Christian Books, christmas, church supplies, customers, fact, fiction, gifts, giving, minions, nativity, New Product, News, spck, SSG | Leave a Comment »
Posted by unicorntreebooksboss on 19 August, 2008
Today makes it exactly 2 years that I have in fact been the unicorntreebookshopboss!
Yes indeed on this day 2 years ago I did in fact sign over all the worldly goods I did not possess and indeed the hope of having them! in exchange for the messy little bookstall that was at the time browse awhile books! and now two years on it’s not so messy, not so little and indeed not so bad!
I am still impoverished and tortured by minions, but at least its my poverty and my minions and in exchange I have the ability to read whatever book I want ’cause I have thousands of them!
I have a range of speciality genres and markets that match my likes!
The newest of these of course being the Christian Books (completely with its own unit! see not so little!) and I am so glad to have these on board, to be able to spend some of each day discussing a subject I absolutely love is phenomenal and a real dream continuing on.
Today’s discussion was on the Shack and the imagery presented as to God and if it is indeed heretical and if so why?
This addition hasn’t come without pain and heartbreak, but what it has come with is a continuing commitment and fervour to serve and reach out, after all pretty much all my book career had been in this section of the book trade and leaving it was painful (though also thrilling and enjoyable on another level as I was moving into the sphere of all books and not just one section!) but I remained resolute and with God’s grace and a smidgen of faith in face of adversity it came to be that I got it back this year, lets hope that together we can all continue to grow it – oh and did I say that Advent Candles and Advent & Nativity Books and Christmas Play material came in this week?? No? well it did – so if you are a church then get in touch as we are now taking Advent & Christmas orders!
Then of course we have the Craft section – formerly an independent business in its own right this came into our safekeeping a year ago and now lends itself wonderfully to our creative talent discussions and displays – believe it or not I am in fact a whizz at tea-bag folding, usually after they have been dried out from the copious cups of tea needed to cope with minion antics! This is still called Al’s Arts & Crafty Bits, but of course its now housed in Unicorn Tree Books!
Next is the LGBT section which is continuing to build a following and reputation and expanding as time goes on. The yaoi manga has been going phenomenally well.
All in all I am pretty proud of the changes that the shop has undergone and hope that in the years to come these will continue to grow and develop as we go forward together in faith, hope and community commitment!
So as its a new year we have old news to report on and new resolutions to put forward!
So old news – our sponsored charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity was given £373.00 in the end, given our target was originally for £200 I think we did pretty well together!
Thank you all who gave their change, those 1p’s soon add up, as of course does the tithe we make from our sales – actually truth to be told that’s apportioned from the bookshopsboss wage as we still aren’t quite there enough to say its from the profits – its a commitment I made and so its one I keep!. We really do believe it is right to give to others when we can, as in giving we receive, even when we don’t know it or see it. After all sharing is caring!
So anyway this year we are continuing with the Children’s Hospital theme but this time its Alder Hay hospital that will be the recipient of our donations and tithes:
(though of course come October there will of course be our Christmas Charity to give to as well – last years Christmas Charity was Habitat for Humanity and we gave £50.00, lets hope we can give more this year when we decide on the Charity!).
So anyway I want to say thank you all for using us, supporting us and following along with us – if you want to come in and celebrate with us, then please do and remember my favourite celebration tipple is a Caramelatte from Nero’s or a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks!
Thanks guys for the last two years, and I look forward to serving and working with all of you in the next few ahead!
Posted in books, candles, charity, Christian Books, christmas, church supplies, News, spck, SSG | Tagged: anniversary, Book Reviews, books, candles, charity, childrens books, Christian Books, christmas, church supplies, crafts, customers, fact, fiction, gifts, giving, lgbt, minions, nativity, New Product, new year, News, niche, puzzles, spck, SSG | Leave a Comment »
Posted by unicorntreebooksboss on 1 August, 2008
Dear All,
I can now confirm that this blog was indeed listed in a Cease and Desist Demand email issued on the 21st July!
http://spckssg.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/other-pages-mark-brewer-says-i-must-take-down/
However I can also confirm that I still have not actually been contacted directly by the person making the demand!! In fact I believe that in point of fact there may even be more emails than the first one in which this blog was mentioned, but they may be covered by confidentiality requests.
The first email was not only sent to someone within my sphere of livelihood but it was also copied and sent to a member of the British press! thus potentially having the repercussion of doing me more damage. Certainly some of the statements made are in all likelihood defammatory and certainly, as previously reported, they have had a knock on effect to my reputation and livelihood as demonstrated by my post on the 22nd – after all the news got around – of course this could well be because this initial email – to which I was not included either directly or copied into, thus not allowing me to take action, refutation or defense, – was not sent as a confidential email in any way! indeed as stated in point of fact it was sent to a member of the british press!
Now one of the reasons I may not have been contacted or included initially may stem from the fact that given how the email is phrased the sending party would like to claim they don’t know who owns this blog or who I am – how that could possibly be I don’t know, and am sure no right thinking or reasonable person could understand either, as for goodness sake I give the name of my shop in the blogger header and blog title! I also give the place we are and the official website link there too! So there is no possible excuse for such a mistake or oversight to act as a defense in this action, indeed pretty much every blog headline is a direct link to my shops main website and my full professional contact details are clearly included on that site, as is a standard contact form. Indeed on that website my name is actually clearly reported on more than one page! Add to that the comments on this blog are not set to moderate so a message could have been left at any time, therefore there is no justification or defense for not having contacted me directly prior to the sending of the email, or my inclusion in the initial sending of the email, especially as the demand was for the total removal of my entire blog, most of which is entirely unrelated to the person, their company, their charity or anyone else within their sphere.
So what happens now?
Well I am going to be making contact with the Federation of Small Businesses legal department, as being a member of this I have recourse to their services for free – how good is that! I am also going to be getting in touch with the National Market Traders Federation legal department – another association to which I have membership – as well and asking them for some guidance on this issue.
Of course a letter of apology and retraction sent to me with an agreement it can be made public on this site, and a donation to our nominated charity, or a bunch of charities of our choice, might go quite some way towards mitigation! Oh and perhaps the donation to me of the remaining fittings, fixtures and stands and odds and sods etc. -or the equivalent- that are within the closed SPCK/SSG Lincoln shop that I note is listed as a Creditor in Schedule F of the SSG LLC Bankruptcy papers would be nice in way of compensation?
After all including my whole blog and therefore tarring me and my business with the unfounded allegations of wrongdoing, and bringing me under the threats made in the email, whilst completely keeping the email and substance of these threats from my knowledge may only be willful ignorance, but it is difficult to see how this could be interpreted as anything other than an act of malice given that he failed to do me the simply courtesy of sending the email to me directly, especially with the potential impact to my reputation and livelihood.
And I certainly am not a public company, charity or public individual – after all I am not currently involved in any actions of noteworthy legal proceedings or public interest either here in Lincoln or elsewhere, though of course as the individual that sent the email in the first instance is aware – I am listed on his schedule as one who has been involved in a prior legal issue with him, and resolved it. Therefore the failure to contact me -thus potentially occasioning much damage to myself, my reputation and my livelihood and my ability to trade – or attempt to inform or notify me in any way prior to contacting those within the sphere of my livelihood and the british press in what was a clearly unmarked email without even the most basic disclaimer attached as to privacy and confidentiality etc is surely without justification.
So there we have it.
Yes this blog was included in a C&D,
threats were made against it and therefore me and no I was not and still have not been contacted by the party making the demand and threats.
I shall be expecting a letter of apology and reparation in due course, meanwhile in case they should not be swiftly forthcoming I will be making contact with legal advisors and trade associations whilst we explore ramifications and options.
Posted in charity, News, spck, SSG | Leave a Comment »
Posted by unicorntreebooksboss on 1 August, 2008
Dear All,
I can now confirm that this blog was indeed listed in a Cease and Desist Demand email issued on the 21st July!
http://spckssg.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/other-pages-mark-brewer-says-i-must-take-down/
However I can also confirm that I still have not actually been contacted directly by the person making the demand!! In fact I believe that in point of fact there may even be more emails than the first one in which this blog was mentioned, but they may be covered by confidentiality requests.
The first email was not only sent to someone within my sphere of livelihood but it was also copied and sent to a member of the British press! thus potentially having the repercussion of doing me more damage. Certainly some of the statements made are in all likelihood defammatory and certainly, as previously reported, they have had a knock on effect to my reputation and livelihood as demonstrated by my post on the 22nd – after all the news got around – of course this could well be because this initial email – to which I was not included either directly or copied into, thus not allowing me to take action, refutation or defense, – was not sent as a confidential email in any way! indeed as stated in point of fact it was sent to a member of the british press!
Now one of the reasons I may not have been contacted or included initially may stem from the fact that given how the email is phrased the sending party would like to claim they don’t know who owns this blog or who I am – how that could possibly be I don’t know, and am sure no right thinking or reasonable person could understand either, as for goodness sake I give the name of my shop in the blogger header and blog title! I also give the place we are and the official website link there too! So there is no possible excuse for such a mistake or oversight to act as a defense in this action, indeed pretty much every blog headline is a direct link to my shops main website and my full professional contact details are clearly included on that site, as is a standard contact form. Indeed on that website my name is actually clearly reported on more than one page! Add to that the comments on this blog are not set to moderate so a message could have been left at any time, therefore there is no justification or defense for not having contacted me directly prior to the sending of the email, or my inclusion in the initial sending of the email, especially as the demand was for the total removal of my entire blog, most of which is entirely unrelated to the person, their company, their charity or anyone else within their sphere.
So what happens now?
Well I am going to be making contact with the Federation of Small Businesses legal department, as being a member of this I have recourse to their services for free – how good is that! I am also going to be getting in touch with the National Market Traders Federation legal department – another association to which I have membership – as well and asking them for some guidance on this issue.
Of course a letter of apology and retraction sent to me with an agreement it can be made public on this site, and a donation to our nominated charity, or a bunch of charities of our choice, might go quite some way towards mitigation! Oh and perhaps the donation to me of the remaining fittings, fixtures and stands and odds and sods etc. -or the equivalent- that are within the closed SPCK/SSG Lincoln shop that I note is listed as a Creditor in Schedule F of the SSG LLC Bankruptcy papers would be nice in way of compensation?
After all including my whole blog and therefore tarring me and my business with the unfounded allegations of wrongdoing, and bringing me under the threats made in the email, whilst completely keeping the email and substance of these threats from my knowledge may only be willful ignorance, but it is difficult to see how this could be interpreted as anything other than an act of malice given that he failed to do me the simply courtesy of sending the email to me directly, especially with the potential impact to my reputation and livelihood.
And I certainly am not a public company, charity or public individual – after all I am not currently involved in any actions of noteworthy legal proceedings or public interest either here in Lincoln or elsewhere, though of course as the individual that sent the email in the first instance is aware – I am listed on his schedule as one who has been involved in a prior legal issue with him, and resolved it. Therefore the failure to contact me -thus potentially occasioning much damage to myself, my reputation and my livelihood and my ability to trade – or attempt to inform or notify me in any way prior to contacting those within the sphere of my livelihood and the british press in what was a clearly unmarked email without even the most basic disclaimer attached as to privacy and confidentiality etc is surely without justification.
So there we have it.
Yes this blog was included in a C&D,
threats were made against it and therefore me and no I was not and still have not been contacted by the party making the demand and threats.
I shall be expecting a letter of apology and reparation in due course, meanwhile in case they should not be swiftly forthcoming I will be making contact with legal advisors and trade associations whilst we explore ramifications and options.
Posted in charity, News, spck, SSG | Leave a Comment »
