Kehos is Not Closing Down
CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn — Report appeared that the Kehos store on Eastern Pkwy is in danger of closing down is false, misleading and slanted, according to Rabbi Avrohom Holtzberg, manager of the store.
Rabbi Holtzberg spoke with Shturem a little while ago and was furious. “It’s a cheap lie,” he said. You can see the whole thing was staged. They sent a photographer to photograph when there were no books on the shelves. The photographer himself could have emptied one of the shelves so he could take a picture of an empty shelve and say the store is closing down.
Is Kehos’ financial situation very bad now? we asked Rabbi Holtzman. He said: “It is no secret that we are suffering financial difficulties but it is a far cry from closing down the store. You have to remember that the store is run by Merkoz and Merkoz won’t let it close down. Just yesterday 3 new books arrived.”
Rabbi Holtzberg added that despite the difficult situation “we never delayed payment of salaries.”
Seforim are Rabbi Holtzberg”s life. He yearns for those days when people would buy Chabad books. Today that enthusiasm is gone. The Rebbe would always call for buying Chabad books, today people buy mostly sidurim and machzorim. There are thousands of people who are ready to buy the new seforim that come out but they all wait until Hey Teves when there is a huge discount.
Rabbi Holtzberg adds that because of the financial difficulties “we are seriously considering on cutting back special sales and on the discount prices. We don’t know if that is the solution but we are considering such a move.”
How does the Merkoz plan on solving the crisis?
Holtzberg: We have already consulted with experts in this field and if we have to make changes we will.
Rabbi Holtzberg feels that this is not only a problem effecting Kehos but is on a global scale. “Just a few weeks ago a very big chain book store announced that it has suffered a loss of 20% in sales. The world has become poorer and people don’t have enough money to buy books.”
Shturem’s correspondent in the U.S. visited the Kehos store in Crown Heights today and came back with photos showing that the store is full with books.
Video interview with Rabbi Holtzberg in Hebrew.
Monsey Observer
The problem with Kehos is not that people are not buying books- look at the phenomenal, prolific selection from Artscroll & Feldheim…yes, there is a downturn in the economy, but on the other-hand, the frum Jewish community is growing expotentially!
The problem is the KIND of books–Kehos needs to underwrite and produce more interesting, up-beat and contemporary titles– besides for the sifrei Chassidus, they are all old re-runs–
How many times can I buy “Think Jewish” – even if they reprint it, put a fancier jacket on it, redesign it, etc. Much of what Kehos offers in English is dated material written in stuffy language…
i work in kehos
You know, the same website that has this original story, also had another story.
it was a politicle story and ide rather not get into the detals, but the heading of the article had made it clear that.
“Our website, doesnt have politicle sides or oppinions but we just have to clear this up bc of what all the other websites are saying.”
me personaly always take the side of the under dog in this case the side and opnion of that website, but after seeing this story about kehos closing down, i can see that this website is false the opinions are one sided and contain no truth what so ever.
so i would like to publicly thank that website for finally telling me the truth of which websites are honest and which ones are full of it.
i say this based on 2 things
one
i work in kehos and i know what is really going on.
second.
to date as of this message my comment that i submited regarding this issue has het to be published.
CN
But what does it all mean anyway to a Chossid? If the shelves are empty, a Chossid should think it is because business is great and everyone bought all the books already. If the shelves are full, to a Chosid this would be a bad sign – that no one is buying and thus the shelves are still full.
just wondering
Its about time Kehos got the act together.
they are always out of something which people need.
Can someone tell me why they need a board of shluchm, who dont know what the hell is going on?
ch-er
“Rabbi Holtzberg added that despite the difficult situation “we never delayed payment of salaries.””
Yup, they pay their employees, the reasons the shelves are empty is because they don’t pay their vendors on time and most printers in the USA will not print for them.
The last time the mincha maariv was printed it was in France.
dovid
how does hos name change from holtzberg to holzman and back… dual peesonality? regardless, we wish Kehoz the best of lcuk and for sure hope they’ll stay open & please don’t stop the sales. thankx!
Sad
the reason that people don’t buy all year long is because the prices of seforim are so expensive. years ago there were more discounts more often and available to more people and shluchim (not just head shluchim).
now at least people are buying during hay teves sale – if they cut back on the discounts, then less people will buy altogether!
Logic
I’m sure that if every Chabad house and Chabad institution around the world paid Kehos what they owed them on time, then they’d be able to pay the vendors on time.
No moisad or business can run on air forever.