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Creative Learning Connection>
February Happenings at CLC
February 3, 2009
February Happenings at Creative Learning Connection,
8006 Old Madison Pike, Ste 11-A, Madison, AL
www.CreativeLearningConnection.com
A couple of reminders first: Don’t forget our Mid-Year Encouragement Workshops this Friday and Saturday, February 6th & 7th. We will be open from 8:30 .a.m. to 5:30 p.m. both days, with at least 4 workshops to choose from during each day. The complete schedule is on the website. (No charge to attend.) We will be open for shopping those two days as well – in fact, Saturday will be the last day of our 25% off Children’s Products Sale.
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And remember, we will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, February 9th & 10th, except for classes. We will be purging inventory on those days, thanks to the new CPSIA regulations Congress has come up with. (A little more on that at the end of the newsletter – and lots more on the website.)
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Now for the new news (both of these events are appropriate for all ages). For planning purposes, please RSVP an approximate number for either to cmmjaime@alum.mit.edu.
A Night to Celebrate Creation!
with our friends from Answers in Genesis
Monday, February 16th from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
(And the front of the store will be open for shopping that evening from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.)
February 12, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. You can expect much publicity as his many proponents propel Darwin and his theory of evolution into the limelight. This workshop will expose some of the fallacies in this ideology, which dominates our culture in education, politics, science, religion and more.
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YWAM – Missions Presentations
We are also excited to announce that four young people from the Youth With a Mission base in Louisville will be here to share with us:
Friday, February 20th from 1:30 – 4:00 p.m.
They will share with us a missions focused drama presentation, personal testimonies about their experiences in missions, and a missions challenge.
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CPSIA Update
We appreciate all that so many of you have done to support us in our struggle with the CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act). Many of you have sent faxes and emails, and made phone calls in regards to this. When I first spoke with Senator Sessions’ office last week I was told they had received over 1,000 communications in regards to this law. I’m sure many, many of those have originated from here!
At this point, with one week to go until the February 10th deadline, there is good news and bad news. The first good news was last week when HSLDA decided to take the issues more seriously, and get involved. That was very good news. They have a meeting tomorrow with the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Then the week ended on a good note, when the CPSC issued a one year stay on the deadlines for testing and certification of new products. What that means for us is that we can continue to self-publish our Alphabet Fun book and Lapbook Kits for another twelve months.
The bad news is that the requirements are still as strict on used items. Since the CPSC tells us we don’t have to test, but that we can’t sell things we aren’t confident don’t have lead (want to guess how you tell that – yes, that would be through testing), we have made the painful decision to stop taking pretty much any used items other than regular books. (Regular books being defined as those that are not played with.) There is just no safe way for us to know whether most other used items meet their new standards.
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New Consignment Policies
It has been hard for us to turn away so many people in the last few weeks who have brought in items to consign, but we appreciate everyone’s patience with us as we have dealt with the new CPSIA law. The break in taking consignments has given us the opportunity to get caught up on the books and other items currently in the store, and to reevaluate how we will do future consignments.
After taking consignments for almost six years, it has been difficult for us to make some of the major changes that we are about to implement. But in all honesty, it was make these changes, or consider closing our doors sooner rather than later. We can’t say for sure that these changes will bring all the necessary financial adjustments we need, but they will certainly help. Most of you are not aware of how much of a financial commitment this store has been for our family over the entire time we’ve had it, but particularly over the last two years. Moving to the bigger space was a necessity, but with the move came much larger expenses, expenses that we have largely paid out of our own pockets.
I say all that to explain in part the changes that are about to occur with consignments. From this point on, we will only be taking books in for consignments on Mondays and Thursdays (starting February 12th), for credit, and the percentages are changing to 50% each. (This will not affect books that are currently in the store.) Additionally, we are going to only the “unlisted” method, where books receive only the four digit number of the consignor, not the consignor number and an item number. Now that we have over 700 consignors, the paperwork to do the listed method has become overwhelming.
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Thank you for reading through all this, and for helping us to serve you. We have enjoyed the last six years, and hope the doors remain open for us to continue to do this for many years in the future.
Catherine Jaime
cmmjaime@alum.mit.edu
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