Couture Cardstock Ceases Wholesale & Distribution Operations [Updated]

Couture Cardstock announced today via its blog that it is ceasing wholesale and distribution operations after its parent company, Cardstock Warehouse, was acquired by an unnamed company. (Updated to reflect corrected information received from Cardstock Warehouse.) Although Cardstock Warehouse may continue to use the Couture Cardstock name for retail operations, the unit brand name as it had been operating has ceased to exist. This includes, unfortunately, the termination of all of the personnel, including company president CarrieAnne DeLoach:

Cardstock Warehouse Paper Company, Inc, the parent company of Couture Cardstock, has this week concluded an acquisition agreement with a distributor. The resulting sale of Cardstock Warehouse Paper Company, Inc” assets has caused a major reorganization of Cardstock Warehouse Paper Company, Inc. This reorganization has lead to the immediate end of Couture Cardstock’s existence as a wholesale or distribution entity. This unfortunately also makes the staff of Couture Cardstock, including its President, customer service agents, designers and design team coordinators no longer necessary.

Update: The personnel involved were contract personnel and not Cardstock Warehouse employees.

Couture Cardstock had informed publishers it was advertising with, including Scrapbook Update and Papercrafter's Corner, that it was discontinuing its advertising contracts several days ago for unspecified reasons.

Cardstock Warehouse/Couture Cardstock was scheduled to be an exhibitor at CHA Summer 2010 in Rosemont, IL at the end of this month. The announcement does not indicate whether the parent company will still maintain a show presence in that booth. (Update: Cardstock Warehouse will still be maintaining their presence at CHA Summer as planned.)

Couture Cardstock entered the scrapbook industry as a new player in 2009. Several of their specialty products, such as cardstock designed for use with watercolors and Copic markers, received a lot of buzz at the CHA Winter 2010 trade show. But any new cardstock company faces an uphill battle in the current marketplace, which is dominated by Bazzill (with several other companies such as Core'dinations holding their own significant pieces of it as well).

(Update: Couture was a separate marketing brand of Cardstock Warehouse. Its products will continue to be available through Cardstock Warehouse.)