Send The Light Distribution celebrates its first anniversary as a management-owned company this month.

In March 2012, management of STL Distribution North America purchased the distributor from its parent company, Biblica. The buyout was a year in the making.

With an estimated 75% of companies failing in their first year, and few showing a profit, the leadership of the newly renamed distributor is pleased with the company’s accomplishments.

“We looked at every single aspect of the operation, how to improve, how to serve our retailers better,” said Glenn Bailey, president of the Elizabethton, Tenn.-based company. “The changes internally have affected every single department of the company.”

While some changes are readily apparent to Christian retailers, others were internal and have improved efficiency, Bailey said. With the sale came new ways of doing business with “more flexibility and options,” he said.

Financially, he was pleased to report that “we finished out our first (partial) fiscal year that ended in December ‘in the black’ and that we are beginning our second year in better fiscal shape than we began our first year.”

A leader in church supplies, Bibles and homeschool products, the distributor has also expanded its gift lines, including Lawson Falle, Carpentree, Beechdale Frames, Cathedral Art, Nicole Brayden, Cottage Garden, Christian Art Gifts, CTA, Abbey Press, Carson Home Accents, Glory Haus and Blossom Bucket. It added clerical shirts and collars from Friar Tuck and Ecclesia and messianic products from Holy Land Gifts.

In addition, Send The Light established an exclusive partnership with Blue Ridge Church Furniture and expanded its proprietary product line, Lumen, featuring jewelry, plush toys, wristbands, e-reader covers, branded Bibles and Bible organizers.

As a special thank-you to its customers, “we are offering a Free Freight Friday for all orders placed on March 15, our anniversary date,” said Mark Phillips, vice president of sales and marketing.

Recent changes at the company include the implementation of Simply 42, a discount program for retailers; a new Loyalty Program; and the Church Supply Source program. Plans also are under way to launch Premier Partners in 2013.

For more information, visit the company’s website, www.stl-distribution.com.

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