Athearn is bought out!!!!!

Cutting back on their production.

That and alot of jobs to be lost in this deal also.

John Binford

So much for "made" in the USA.

john Binford

Job loss should come as no surprise to anyone. If you want Made in USA on any of your model railroad stuff you won't need much of a budget or if you want made in USA on all your inventory in a store you won't have much inventory. As far as Horizon selling only to brick and mortar retailers - it's about freakin' time!!! We do a fair amount of business with Horizon now and will obviously be doing more. They ship very quickly and have a very good fill rate too. They have a warehouse in Illinois and another in California. They send out faxes once or twice a week with announcements. Their discounts on Lionel are better than a lot of distributors too. So we wish them well.

D Day meaning don't buy any more. Their policy will backfire.

Shopped for a forging press lately?

Ah, now I know where you were coming from. No wonder you hate the non-brick and mortar types as you own or work for a B&M store. Personally, I was wondering what kind of a person would applaud a decision that could ruin small businesses. Until I realized that their competition would. It all makes sense now... I realize this may be a new idea to you since you own or work for a general hobby store, but most train shops are train-only shops. I've heard that Horizon has a large minimum order requirement (say, $400 per month, haven't heard if that's wholesale or retail value) that would be difficult for a small business to fill out with just Athearn products. This will either force dealers to either go into other general hobby items that Horizon offers, or cause them to stop ordering Athearn. See, my parents have owned a small independant bookstore for 14 years now, and I am sick and tired of distributers sticking to the small business like Horizon is doing right now. And yes, what I've heard and read so far will, IMHO, do more damage to the small retail business than it will help.

Paul A. Cutler III

************* Weather Or No Go New Haven *************

Most are already in China. California will kill off the rest as soon as it can. Who can do business in that state anymore.

I used to patronize the small independent bookstores, before the Barnes and Nobles and Borders (a small company before KMart bought them out) pushed the 3 independents I went to out of the business.

I sometimes go to those stores, but I buy a lot from Amazon. Mainly because I can log in anytime and buy, and not have to take time to go after work. Prices are better, but I tend to buy closeout bargain books at Borders and B&N...

Kennedy

And Levi's just announced that they are closing the last of their North American plants to ship their manufacturing overseas. Something like 800 jobs lost in San Antonio. As for model train manufacturers still making stuff here... Athearn (for now) Model Die Casting Fine Scale Miniatures Sheepscot Campbell ...?

Kadee in Particular. They do it all including their boxes and printing. Also count MicroTrains in there as well.

Dave

That's a bit ridiculous. Do you have any idea how many railroad lines Horizon carries currently? A lot of your bigger names and some of the smaller ones. No they do not carry discrete parts such as Cannon but they do carry major lcocmotive and rolling stock lines. Atlas, Athearn, LifeLike, MDC, Kato, Accurail, and Stewart are some of these. Any Train shop working with Horizon would have access to these lines at excellent pricing. Horizon has had a $300 minimum (dealer cost) to maintain your shop status. Think about that. That is $10 per day net. In other words you'd have to see $17 per day at retail prices to maintain a minimum. If a shop can't do that somethings wrong. I have to go to other distributors the same way new distributors will come to Horizon. If I want Branchline products I have to go to Hobby Stores Distributing. Want Intermountain, Red Caboose, or Bowser? Better be willing to go direct to them. I just have to wonder if a "railroad distributor" such as Walthers had bought Athearn what folks would have to say. Any takers?

Dave

Why? If they were to jack up prices and limit production runs maybe. However Horizon has been looking for an opportunity to become a major player in the Model Railroading business. Based on first hand business dealings with them over the years I find it highly unlikely that their policy will backfire. This was not an overnioght purchase and you can bet that Horizon has looked long and hard at how to grow Athearn into a key component of their wholesale operation.

Dave

Horizon believes that the retail hobby shop is the core of there business. As such they do not desire to sell to mail order only operations that would be able to substantially undercut the average retailer.

Walthers will be done with Athearn as soon as stocks are depleted. After March

1st they will not get anymore Athearn. Although Terminal Hobby is a retail storefront for Walthers it's hoighly unlikely that they will have Athearn. This because Terminal Hobby pulls it's good from the Walthers distribution facility. For example: Orange Blossom Hobbies was essentially a retail facade for Pan Am Distributors. Although Pan Am carried the Kato line all product went out via Orange Blossoms via the store or the wandering Trade Show crew. When they came to my town and sold at shows they were able to undersell my price because of that set up. Nothing ticks off a retailer more than having their distributor sell for less than they can. This is why Horizon's purchase will kill off the rock bottom sellers and likely stabilize prices. You should still find excellent prices just not the less than cost ones that showed up around the Internet. The large mail order / storefront dealers will likely pick up business.

Dave

Go to

- search a database of holdings by hundreds (at least) of independent booksellers, many available used at very good prices.

Good Morning All,

I guess there are two questions I have and I apologize if they have been answered in the past. One......Will Horizen offer the Athearn parts? The ability to get parts for any car or engine was one of the strong points of the Athearn business. Two......Will Horizen over repair services as Athearn does now?

Bob Rule, Jr. Hatboro, Pa.

Hodgdon Scale Models. Everything in the box, including the box itself is made in USA, most of it right here in New England. Same goes for Precision Lasercraft, and a bunch of other small outfits. James F. Hodgdon Jr. Hodgdon Scale Models

I agree. I've gotten a lot of good buys there. For example, a copy of White's freight car book for less than half the new price. Other than a few edge tears in the dust cover, it looks like new.

The problem here is that small shops have to go to a dozen distributors to get products for the railroaders. If you run a total hobby shop (planes, plastic models, etc.) it may work ok (at least if you are a big store in a mall) however if one was just a train store (with very low overhead) as a part time business (ligit) then you'd be out of luck. I know many stores that don't want to deal with a dozen distributors (at set minimums) so they have limited stock. With that limited stock goes limited customers.