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2009-03-03 issue:

Some stores in the West resist Ten Thousand Villages' new contract

49 stores have already committed to signing

by Anna Groff

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Three stores in the West are not willing to sign Ten Thousand Villages' new contract; two others are still deciding whether they will comply.

The new contract requires 80 percent of each store's purchases to come from the company's product line—along with requiring other computer software upgrades and remodeling requirements.

In an article entitled, “10,000 Villages' New Contract Causes Difficulty for Some Stores" published in the Winter 2009 issue of Evangel, Susan McCarthy Palmer wrote: "[The stores not signing will] still carry crafts from artisans represented by Ten Thousand Villages, they say, but the requirement to buy more than 80 percent of their product … has made it impossible for them to afford carrying the Ten Thousand Villages name and remain viable as businesses."

Evangel is the quarterly newsletter published by Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference.

"We wanted to have a uniform contract for all our stores," said Kristen Jenkins, media relations for Ten Thousands Villages on Feb. 20. Currently, Ten Thousand Villages has contracts that vary from 70 to 85 percent in their requirements for stores' purchases to come from their product line. But the new contract now requires all Ten Thousand Villages stores to purchase 80 percent.

Jenkins said that the intent of the new contract is to support artisans who make the products.

According to Craig Schloneger, CEO of Ten Thousand Villages, there have been varying responses to the new contract. But 49 stores have signed or have given a verbal commitment that they will sign the new contract.

“We are pleased that the vast majority of stores have signed the contract as this helps us strengthen our relationships with artisans around the world,” said Schloneger on March 4.

Schloneger said the stores in Boise, Idaho, LaJunta, Colo., and Salem, Ore., have indicated that they will not sign the contract, and two others are undecided.

Stores must sign the contract by April 1 or they will be classifieds as wholesale accounts with Ten Thousand Villages. That means they cannot use Ten Thousand Villages in their name.

“There is no requirement for profits to return to Ten Thousand Villages,” he said. “The board of directors for each store decides what to do with the profits.”

Martha Detweiler, a member of the board for the gift and thrift store in Lebanon, Ore., said the Lebanon store will not sign the contract as it currently stands; she said their refusal is an act of solidarity with the other stores that oppose the new contract.

Detweiler said the financial requirements were not the problem—as joint gift and thrift stores have lower profit requirements and the Lebanon. Ore., store meets them. Also, the store needed to be remodeled anyway, so they decided to follow many of Ten Thousand Villages' requirements.

Detweiler says it's the implications of the contract.

"I don't want to be like a franchise store," she said on Feb. 24. "I don't think that's the goal of what Ten Thousand Villages is … that's the reason we haven't signed it. We really prefer to stay a Ten Thousand Villages store. We are really hoping that some changes can be made—that they can become more flexible with the stores and listen to us. Our preference would be to stay with them and not just become a wholesale account."

Ellen Chambers, a member of the Salem, Ore., store board, said they tried to communicate with Ten Thousand Villages' national office in Akron, Pa., to negotiate the contract but had to focus on keeping their own store viable. At this point, the store plans not to sign the contract and will become a wholesale account.

"The contract expectations were very challenging for us to work with," she said on Feb. 25. "We felt that the process was not collaborative."

In addition to supporting the artisans, Chambers said they have a commitment to paying their own staff fairly.

"We have always been very proud to be part of Ten Thousand Villages," she said, "and would never have made the choice to no longer carry the name except for the changes that were coming as shown in the contract. If we could have remained part of Ten Thousand Villages, we would have been most happy to do that. There's certainly some sadness."

"Although the 80 percent requirement is a problem, the main issue is the new corporate retail direction that Akron management is imposing," said Russ Buschert, board member of the Boise store.

He also invites people to visit this blog: http://concernedvillagers.blogspot.com/

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