The Stationers Guild

Like other stationery dealers, Sheila and I have been somewhat perplexed and not a little put-out that Printswell will no longer distribute the Sweet Pea line of stationery, invitations and announcements.  Shortly after we received this information, we contacted Printswell and were informed that Sweet Pea Designs had ended their contractual arrangements with Printswell and that Sweet Pea Designs (album and online designs) could no longer be sold after March 19, 2010.  We sought additional clarification from Printswell owners, but received no further information other than the email announcement.

Today, we received an email from Anne Johnson and Kim Kreis, the founders and designers of Sweet Pea Designs, indicating that they intend to relaunch the company under their own name within the next “month or so” and that they were putting the “finishing touches” on their new website and that “new” catalogs were being designed.   Sheila and I took the opportunity to call Sweet Pea and had a most pleasant conversation with Anne Johnson, one of the founders.  Found below are brief highlights of the conversation that we feel may be relevant to fellow dealers and clients who admire Sweet Peas designs:

• Sweet Pea Designs (“SPD”), a 22-year old company, and Printswell have always been separate legal companies even though Printswell changed its name to Sweet Pea name for a short period of time for convenience in distributing the Sweet Pea line.
• Under the terms of their contractual arrangement, SPD gave 60 days notice in January that they planned to terminate the distributions and printing arrangement with Printswell.  According to Anne, the co-founders decided that they wished to assume greater control of the design process and the marketing and production of their stationery line.
• The existing Sweet Pea albums are “obsolete.”  SPD will shortly be issuing two new “somewhat larger” albums for Baby & Children and another for “Adult Themes.”    A third album for Christmas and holiday themes will be issued later in the year.
• These new albums will be shipped within the next few weeks (probably within 60 days) to dealers who complete a Sweet Pea Designs Application form.  Email SPD at info@sweet-peadesigns.net to obtain your Application Form.   SPD does not have a list of authorized Sweet Pea dealers and is trying to piece together a list from third-party sources.
• According to Anne, the new albums will be shipped free-of-charge to dealers who have met some pre-determined volume of sales.  Pricing for the new albums is still under consideration, but should not be more than $100 per album with coupons offered to help offset the cost of the albums.
• The new designs will be printed on heavier paper stock (110 lb paper).
• The new Sweet Pea website will also incorporate an “affiliate program” similar to programs offered by Printswell and others in the industry.   The nature of the affiliate commission structure was not discussed.
• Anne suggested that they would be more selective on how their product was represented geographically, but admitted that some home-dealers would be “grandfathered.”   She anticipated that SPD would have firm policies to avoid discounting.
• SPD will be represented at the National Stationery Show in booths 3306-3308 and Anne and Kim encouraged Guild members to drop by.

Clearly, Sweet Pea is a very popular line for many dealers.  It is unfortunate that this rough transition has left many dealers in the dark and unable to fulfill customer requests.  Nevertheless, it is good to see Sweet Pea upgrading their line when many other companies are tracking in the opposite direction.

I would like to thank Anne for sharing this information with readers of the Stationers Guild News and we wish Anne and Kim much success in flying solo.
Sheila and Richard May
Therese Saint Clair