Retiring Products Announcement

Yesterday, Close to My Heart informed Makers that they are changing their policies on continuing to reorder products that sell out, even if they are in the core catalog.  

____________________

Here are the pertinent details as excerpted from their email to Makers:

"In the face of current economic uncertainty, with inflation and continuing supply chain unpredictability, we have had to take a close look at the way we are doing business and make some changes.

. . . Many of our current product outages are a result of not having restricted sales during the Boxing Week sale. While we recognize the inconvenience of having items retire when they are still featured in a current catalog, we also have to consider minimum order quantities for these items in order to avoid overstocking in the future. Some items have minimum order quantities that are too large for us to realistically sell through in a reasonable amount of time. In this situation, we may have to allow an item to retire early rather than reorder it so that we can maintain appropriate inventory levels.

. . . Over the past few years, we have added many new items to our product offering, including third-party items that we love to incorporate into our crafting. Unfortunately, this has also contributed to some challenging inventory issues. In order to scale back on excess inventory, we have decided to phase out some of these items in order to more fully focus on our core product offerings: stamps, Thin Cuts, paper packets, and similar items. We will continue to offer some of these essential crafting items, but we will be stocking fewer third-party items that can easily be found through other outlets. . . .

. . . Regarding our shipping turnaround time, the recent delays we have experienced were caused mainly by an influx of orders from our Boxing Week sale. This is only the latest sale to stretch our shipping team’s ability to process orders within the standard 2–6 business day turnaround time policy. While we are frequently operating at the lower end of this range, we see a need to increase the upper range to 7–10 business days in order to better manage Maker and customer expectations. . . .

. . . One of the most difficult decisions that we have made is to close our operations in Japan."

_________

So you can see that the CTMH product lines will be shrinking.  In order to help you better understand what will no longer be available, I am including below the current list of retiring items:

RETIRED:  (as of 2/1/23)


1778
    My Acrylix® Spritz Cleaner
    Retired
9046
    Make It from Your Heart Volume 5
    Retired
CC12231
    Four Seasons - Spring Cardmaking Kit
    Retired
CC12235
    Four Seasons—Summer Cardmaking Workshop Kit
    Retired
CC12236
    Four Seasons - Summer Cardmaking Kit (w/o Stamps + Thin Cuts)
    Retired
CC12237
    Four Seasons—Autumn Scrapbooking Workshop Kit
    Retired
CC12238
    Four Seasons—Autumn Scrapbooking Kit (without stamp + Thin Cuts)
    Retired
CC12239
    Four Seasons - Autumn Cardmaking Kit
    Retired
CC12240
    Four Seasons - Autumn Cardmaking Kit (w/o Stamps + Thin Cuts)
    Retired
CC12241
    Four Seasons - Winter Scrapbooking Workshop Kit
    Retired
CC12243
    Four Seasons—Winter Cardmaking Workshop Kit
    Retired
RYW009
    Storage Tin
    Retired
RYW061
    Distress Ink Storage Tin
    Retired
RYW062
    Craft Tidy
    Retired
X8033B
    Flower Shoppe Paper Packet
    Retired
X8035B
    Four Seasons Summer Paper Packet
    Retired
X8035C
    Four Seasons Summer Coordinating Cardstock
    Retired
X8035S
    Four Seasons Summer Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet
    Retired
X8036B
    Four Seasons Autumn Paper Packet
    Retired
X8036C
    Four Seasons Autumn Coordinating Cardstock
    Retired
X8036S
    Four Seasons Autumn Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet
    Retired
X8037B
    Four Seasons Winter Paper Packet
    Retired
X8037C
    Four Seasons Winter Coordinating Cardstock
    Retired
X8037S
    Four Seasons Winter Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet
    Retired
Y1005
    1" × 6 1/2" My Acrylix® Block
    Retired
Z1324
    Memory Protectors™ Design 1
    Retired
Z1951
    Memory Protectors™ Design 4
    Retired
Z2088
    Clear Super Fine Embossing Powder
    Retired
Z2479
    Gold Brown TriBlend™ Marker
    Retired
Z2480
    Orange TriBlend™ Marker
    Retired
Z2487
    Jade Green TriBlend™ Marker
    Retired
Z2489
    Blue Turquoise TriBlend™ Marker
    Retired
Z2495
    Bright Pink TriBlend™ Marker
    Retired
Z2511
    Brown Grey Shades TriBlend™ Marker
    Retired
Z2530
    Pale Pink Shades TriBlend™ Marker
    Retired
Z2531
    Bright Pink Shades TriBlend™ Marker
    Retired
Z2532
    Magenta TriBlend™ Marker
    Retired
Z2533
    Dark Red Shades TriBlend™ Marker
    Retired
Z2539
    Capri Glitter Paper
    Retired
Z3312
    Gold Glitter Gems
    Retired
Z3342
    3-D Foam Dots
    Retired
Z3505
    Dual-tip Stylus Embossing Tool
    Retired
Z3556
    Green Stickles™ Glitter Glue
    Retired
Z3558
    Glisten Stickles™ Glitter Glue
    Retired
Z3559
    Waterfall Stickles™ Glitter Glue
    Retired
Z3560
    Golden Rod Stickles™ Glitter Glue
    Retired
Z3561
    Black Diamond Stickles™ Glitter Glue
    Retired
Z3562
    Silver Stickles™ Glitter Glue
    Retired
Z3662
    Toffee Shimmer Brush
    Retired
Z3785
    Icicle Stickles™ Glitter Glue
    Retired
Z3826
    Candied Apple Distress® Oxide® Ink Pad
    Retired
Z3888
    Perpetual Calendar
    Retired
Z4089
    Liquid Glass Fine Tip Applicator
    Retired
Z4127
    Album Label Holders
    Retired
Z4211
    Photo Bypass Paper Trimmer
    Retired
Z4252
    Heat Tool Craft Tool
    Retired
Z4334
    Slim Alphabet Thin Cuts
    Retired
Z4387
    Slim Alphabet & Numbers Bundle
    Retired
Z4574
    Mini Domed Ink Blending Foam
    Retired
Z4577
    Stardust Gel Pens
    Retired
Z4578
    Metallic Gel Pens
    Retired
Z4629
    Blue Dots
    Retired
Z4655
    Seasonal Haul Stamp + Thin Cuts
    Retired
Z4660
    Seabrook Shimmer Trim
    Retired
Z4663
    Circle Patterns Thin Cuts
    Retired
Z4671
    The Merriest Season Stamp + Thin Cuts
    Retired
Z5006
    Tweezers
    Retired
Z5314
    Everyday Life Album 6" x 8" Candy Apple
    Retired
Z5401
    Glitter Paper Bundle
    Retired
Z5414
    Shimmer Brush Bundle 4
    Retired
Z5415
    Glitter Glue Bundle 1
    Retired
Z5416
    Glitter Glue Bundle 2
    Retired
Z5417
    Liquid Pearls™ Bundle 1
    Retired
Z5418
    Liquid Pearls™ Bundle 2
    Retired

___________

As you can see, if a bundle of products is retiring, you can safely assume all individual products will retire too, after CTMH depletes both their current stock and any product currently in the pipeline.  There is an equally long list of items that CTMH has not YET determined will be reordered or retired.  I am hoping CTMH will make a retired list available to customers on the website, but in the meantime, I will post an updated retired list periodically.

There is NO guarantee any items will be available for the full run of the core catalog, or even the current quarterly catalog.  If you see something you want, it might be wise to grab it when available.  If you are looking for something in particular, and want me to check the status of that item, I am happy to do so.  I might even have it on hand.

I know this transition period may cause a bit of frustration, but I am looking forward to CTMH continuing to provide us with great papers, stamps and dies.  If you have any specific questions, please feel free to reach out to me.