Big News in the World of Online Retailing

Leading online scrapbook retailer Scrapbook.com announced yesterday from its headquarters in Mesa. AZ that it has acquired "substantially all" of Keeping Memories Alive, including the company's Scrapbooks.com online store.

Spanish Fork, UT-based Keeping Memories Alive was founded in 1981 by AJ and Marielen Christensen. The Christensens have sold the company to retire. Their daughter and company co-owner Liz Rosenbaum will remain with the web operations of Scrapbooks.com as part of the sale.

Scrapbook.com said in the announcement that it intends to continue running the KMA Scrapbooks.com site as a "separate web destination" and will "migrate its technology and resources to the Keeping Memories Alive web operations with the intent of growing the number of scrapbooking-related offerings available there." (Currently the Scrapbook.com site offers many services to users which Scrapbooks.com does not, such as blogging, online education, and a library of reference materials. )

The sale of Keeping Memories Alive by the Christensens certainly represents the end of an era in the scrapbook industry. KMA has been an industry icon for many years under their guidance. But looking forward, I hope that the sale represents a transition to a happy and healthy retirement for the Christensens, and a wonderful new phase of development for Scrapbooks.com.