Extracted from The Straits time.

Closure of stores leaves online vendors in the lurch

At least five online vendors have been left out of pocket after the closure of The Blog Shop's three stores.
The company shut them down between October and December last year, leaving several vendors with losses of a few thousand dollars each.
The Straits Times spoke to five vendors, who say they lost about $17,100 among them. Each claimed to have lost between $2,000 and $4,600 in rent, deposits, sales money and missing stock.
The store concept was the brainchild of Mr Clarence Chew, who started his business in Haji Lane in 2009. He had the idea of opening a physical retail space where online shops, or blogshops, could display and market their wares, in this case, clothes and accessories for women.
By the following year, he had opened two more stores, at Far East Plaza and City Plaza.
The 25-year-old National University of Singapore economics graduate was also nominated for the Spirit of Enterprise 2010 awards, which honour successful entrepreneurs in Singapore.
In an interview with the awards organisers, he mentioned that his store managed to break even in less than two months.
But since October last year, he has been ignoring the calls and e-mails of his unhappy vendors. A spokesman confirmed that the police have received four reports about the matter.
The vendors said Mr Chew's stores charged an average of $750 a month for the use of a clothes rack that held up to 50 pieces of clothing.
Ms Ang Yuan Mei, the owner of apparel store Black Pockets, lodged a police report in November; she was one of the first to do so. She realised something was amiss when she went down to the Far East Plaza outlet during a stock check in mid-October and noticed people packing the items on display.
The secondary school student, who started renting space in the store in September, said she lost her deposit and four months' rent, as well as the clothes on display. In all, she is around $4,000 out of pocket, she said, adding that she has been pressing Mr Chew for her money since then, but to no avail.
Attempts by The Straits Times to contact Mr Chew were unsuccessful; his mobile phone was disconnected and he has not replied to e-mail.
His last e-mail to vendors, dated Dec20, stated that he needed more time to return the money, due to 'unforeseen financial circumstances'.
The reason for the business closure is unknown, and the shop spaces have been taken over by other tenants.
A former employee, who declined to be named, told the vendors last month to be patient while Mr Chew slowly paid them back in installments.
Some of the vendors have considered pooling their resources to hire a lawyer. But others, like Ms Sherene Hong, 23, have not yet decided on the best course of action.
'It would be better if he can give us an explanation,' said the part-owner of the Running Thread online store, which sells women's clothes.
A similar case occurred in April 2010 with another store, Best of Blogshops, whose owner disappeared while owing his vendors money.

Labels: The straits time

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