LEXINGTON — Dennis Jesch shipped $37,000 worth of promotional items last fall to campus bookstores owned by former Gov. Wallace G. Wilkinson.

        The Roseau, Minn., business owner says he has never been paid and as a result had to get a loan to pay his suppliers.

        “I didn't owe a penny before I started doing business with them (Wallace's),” Mr. Jesch said. “I am now more than $11,000 in debt.”

        Mr. Wilkinson, the chain founder and owner, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week after nine of his creditors sought to liquidate his company to get $234.9 million owed to them. His companies are not involved in the bankruptcy proceeding.

        A group of creditors filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition — which ordinarily involves the sale of all assets — claiming he refused to give them the financial data they needed to determine what happened to their money. After that filing, Mr. Wilkinson sought his own protection in bankruptcy proceedings that could allow him to maintain control of his finances while he works to resolve his debts.

        Mr. Jesch said executives of Wallace's Bookstores promised him payment in November for the ballpoint pens, water bottles and calculators and other souvenirs. Now the company won't answer his phone calls and letters, he said.

        “For us and other small businesses, his business practices have caused hardship beyond belief,” said Mark F. Riden, president of Monarch Publishing LLC in Daytona Beach, Fla., which sold Wallace's Bookstores $28,000 worth of campus stationery.

        Neither Mr. Riden nor Mr. Jesch was named in court documents as among the major creditors owed money.

        Other vendors tell similar stories of delayed payments.

        Mr. Jesch and other vendors say what really makes them mad is that they can't get an explanation for the late payments from the Lexington-based company, which operates more than 60 college bookstores.

        Mr. Wilkinson has declined to comment since filing for bankruptcy protection. His son, Glenn, who is president of the company, did not return a phone call seeking comment Friday.

        Mr. Riden said he sent a registered letter to Mr. Wilkinson asking for payment, plus interest. He received a form letter that read: “It is Wallace's company policy not to pay interest or service charges. Please clear all such amounts from the statement.”

        “I was flabbergasted,” Mr. Riden said.

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