(Catalog Age)–Three years’ worth of red ink led apparel and home goods marketer Faith Mountain Co. to exit the catalog business, Catalog Age has learned.
Rather than filing for bankruptcy, the marketer is living off the business generated by its lone retail store, which as of the beginning of April is housing the company’s entire operations.
“Our plan is if we can raise some financing, we’ll reenter the catalog business,” says president/CEO John Lappegaard.
Faith Mountain’s last catalog mailed during the holiday 2001 season. The company sold its fulfillment center in Sperryville, VA, where it is headquartered, in the fall, then leased the space through this past March.
At its peak in 1999, the company reached $20 million in sales. But even then it wasn’t profitable. ” As a consequence, the company has had no access to financing in the sense of a working capital line,” Lappegaard said. “That became too constraining and I didn’t see how we could be profitable in the catalog business in the short term.”
The company is operating as a one-store business with 15 employees, one-fifth the number it had as a catalog business. Lappegaard won’t reveal the current sales volume.
Faith Mountain’s Web site will likely be discontinued later this month. Most of the catalog merchandise has been liquidated or is being sold in the store.
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