Distributors

The newspaper ad, sponsored by a coalition of national manufacturers, pushes all the right buttons: failed businesses, lost jobs, higher prices for consumers and the "destruction of Maryland's business climate!" And the target of this disinformation campaign? A bill in the General Assembly that simply seeks to force manufacturers to give their distributors cause and notice before ending a business relationship.The aim of this bill is to protect thousands of mom and pop distributors who operate at the whim and pleasure of manufacturers.

Big Lots Stores Inc. has agreed to purchase inventory from the financially ailing Commerce Corp. for an amount expected to top $6 million, according to recent bankruptcy court documents. The entire proceeds are slated to go to M&T Bank, which was owed $17.9 million by Commerce in principal alone as of late February, court documents said. Creditors of Commerce filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition last month against the Curtis Bay-based distributor of lawn and garden supplies.

ANNAPOLIS -- A controversial bill to give Maryland wholesalers some economic protection against the manufacturers who supply them made it out of a House committee yesterday.But the heated debate preceding the 13-9 vote by the House Economic Matters Committee suggests that the heavily amended bill faces a fight in the full House next week.Sponsored at the behest of the Department of Economic and Employment Development, the bill sets rules for manufacturers who want to end their relationships early with some wholesale distributors.

Several creditors of Commerce Corp. filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against the Maryland-based distributor of lawn and garden supplies. In the petition filed last week, five creditors claim they are owed a combined $1.73 million from the Curtis Bay distributor and want it placed in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. The creditors are DeWitt Co. Inc. in Missouri; Franklin Electric Co. Inc. of Indiana; Dramm Corp. of Wisconsin; and Premier Horticulture Inc. and J.R. Peters Inc., both of Pennsylvania.

University of Maryland women's basketball coach Brenda Frese said she was heartbroken that a chemotherapy drug used to treat her 3-year-old son, Tyler, for leukemia was in short supply and possibly unavailable. When she discovered that some companies have been accused of putting profit over production or distribution of cytarabine and other drugs, she was angry — and she began writing letters. "This is life or death, and the thought of some drugs being put out of reach made my stomach sick," she said in an interview.

ANNAPOLIS -- A bill to give wholesale distributors some economic power against the manufacturers who supply them fell victim yesterday to fears about protectionism and special interest lobbying.By 70-63, the House of Delegates handed a rare floor vote defeat to the bill that would have established a set of rules by which manufacturers must deal with Maryland distributors.In an extraordinary debate on the House floor yesterday, supporters and opponents aired accusations about improper lobbying, influence-peddling and legislative overreaching.

Sarah Greenberg Katz, co-founder, secretary and treasurer of a company that distributed Wise potato chips and other snack foods in the Baltimore-Washington area, died June 3 at Northwest Hospital of complications from a stroke suffered May 14. She was 83 and lived in Pikesville. With her husband, Mrs. Katz established Wise Products Distributors Inc. in 1962. The company's owl-logo sign on Aliceanna Street in Fells Point is one of Baltimore's most venerable corporate symbols. Born Sarah Greenberg in Coney Island, Mrs. Katz attended New York City public schools and was a bookkeeper for the Navy in her home borough, Brooklyn, during World War II. In 1948, she married Morris Katz of Passaic, N.J., who had begun as a Wise salesman the previous year.

It came as a shock to the food retailing world when Dutch grocer and distributor Royal Ahold NV said its Columbia-based U.S. Foodservice subsidiary overstated earnings by at least $500 million in the past two years. But few analysts yesterday were surprised that the accounting "irregularities" - which Ahold disclosed Monday - were triggered by U.S. Foodservice's practice of counting on rebates from vendors in exchange for selling high volumes of that vendor's products. The practice, referred to as "promotional allowances" or "vendor allowances," is common throughout the food distribution industry, analysts said.

One of the latest tech startups to get a footing in Baltimore is Foodem , a website started by a University of Maryland College Park grad a few years ago that aims to build a transparent marketplace for commercial food buyers and distributors. Kash Rehman, the founder of Foodem, has been on both sides of the equation in the food industry: he's worked for a small food distributor in Maryland and he's also run his own restaurant in College Park. Here's what Rehman, 35, learned along the way. As a restaurant buyer, he needed to spend an hour by phone comparing wholesale prices for food (think chicken tenders)

POLICE LOG* Jessup: 8200 block of Preston Court: Someone removed glass from the front window of DAS Distributors Monday and took a cash box, police said.* Scaggsville: 10500 block of Scaggsville Road: Chain saws were stolen after someone entered a garage Monday, police said.

A convenience store supplier located in Anne Arundel County is closing its doors and plans to layoff about 200 workers. Eby F.A. Davis LLC, a division of the Illinois-based Eby-Brown Co., will be ending operations at its Baltimore-area facility and conducting layoffs of 194 employees in two phases, according to a statement Friday from the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The first phase will occur over a two-week period in mid-April; the second will be during a two-week period in mid-May, the department said.

Commerce Corp., a lawn and garden supplies distributor based in Curtis Bay, notified state regulators that it was laying off between 60 and 70 workers. Commerce Corp., a lawn and garden supplies distributor based in Curtis Bay, notified state regulators Thursday that it was laying off between 60 and 70 workers. According to the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Commerce initially said it was closing its principal office at 7603 Energy Parkway. The company later said it was not shutting operations there, but instead had started to lay off workers on Dec. 28, according to the agency.

Haines, a national floor covering distributor based in Glen Burnie, said Thursday it has acquired Allied Products of Baltimore, a 72-year-old flooring supplies distributor. The 138-year-old, privately held Haines, which calls itself the nation's largest flooring distributor for commercial and residential properties, did not disclose financial terms of the deal. The sale was finalized on Tuesday. Allied has 40 employees and annual sales of more than $10 million. Haines plans to hire all Allied workers and keep Allied's 11 locations in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina open.

Commerce Corp., a Maryland-based distributor of lawn and garden supplies, said Thursday it is laying off some employees as it seeks to find a buyer or develop a new format. CEO Richard Lessans said the privately held company is still trying to determine how many of its 280 employees nationwide will be laid off. Commerce is based in Curtis Bay and has facilities in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Ontario, Calif. Some sales staff were told they were laid off. "The business is not closing," Lessans said.

One of the latest tech startups to get a footing in Baltimore is Foodem , a website started by a University of Maryland College Park grad a few years ago that aims to build a transparent marketplace for commercial food buyers and distributors. Kash Rehman, the founder of Foodem, has been on both sides of the equation in the food industry: he's worked for a small food distributor in Maryland and he's also run his own restaurant in College Park. Here's what Rehman, 35, learned along the way. As a restaurant buyer, he needed to spend an hour by phone comparing wholesale prices for food (think chicken tenders)

If local pharmacists could write the regulations, Marylanders probably wouldn't ever have been allowed to get their prescriptions filled at chain stores like Walgreens and Rite-Aid. Independent video stores probably would have liked to outlaw Blockbuster, just as small bookstore owners probably would have been just as happy if the state had a ban on Barnes & Noble. (For that matter, Blockbuster might like an injunction against Netflix and Barnes & Noble on Amazon.com.) And most of all, Main Street merchants everywhere would probably love a world where Walmart was illegal.

Baltimore June 18-19 Building Owners & Managers trade show, Baltimore Convention Center, Pratt & Howard streets. Estimated attendance: 2,700+. June 19-20 C&G Distributors trade show, Convention Center. Estimated attendance: 2,000+. National Parent Teachers Association convention, Convention Center. Estimated attendance: 2,500. Contact: Vicki Loise, 312-670-6782

ANNAPOLIS -- A controversial bill to give Maryland wholesalers some economic protection against the manufacturers who supply them made it out of a House committee yesterday.But the heated debate preceding the 13-9 vote by the House Economic Matters Committee suggests that the heavily amended bill faces a fight in the full House next week.Sponsored at the behest of the Department of Economic and Employment Development, the bill sets requirements for manufacturers who want to end their relationships early with some wholesale distributors.

University of Maryland women's basketball coach Brenda Frese said she was heartbroken that a chemotherapy drug used to treat her 3-year-old son, Tyler, for leukemia was in short supply and possibly unavailable. When she discovered that some companies have been accused of putting profit over production or distribution of cytarabine and other drugs, she was angry — and she began writing letters. "This is life or death, and the thought of some drugs being put out of reach made my stomach sick," she said in an interview.

Digital entertainment has shaken the retail industry, shuttering your local brick-and-mortar record store, bookseller and video rental outlets. Could the neighborhood comic book shop be next? Diamond Comic Distributors Inc. hopes not. The Timonium company is the country's largest distributor of comics to about 2,700 small retailers. It has been fighting the same forces — online sales, changing consumer habits and even digital piracy — that are pushing other retailers to the brink.