Hattons Model Railways to close

[adb968008]

Its back…….

 

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/directory

 

 

Hattons directory is back online.

[johnofwessex]

40 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

 

After the "Olympic Tat" debacle, I heard it from more than one trade contact that Hatton's reduced Hornby's unsold inventory mountain to the tune of £8m to restore cashflow where there was none, but had politely declined an invitation to take over the business. 

 

Hornby's announcement on the end of tiering was made public almost simultaneously with Hatton's one of their closure. Almost certainly too late to engender a change of plans.

 

Hatton's had certainly lost all their Hornby pre-orders when Tiering began, because nobody in their right mind would take the gamble on being in line for one of the token box of six that Hatton's would get on release. The days of "more than 10" were well-and-truly gone until something failed to sell.

 

To help compensate, I began placing all other pre-orders with Hatton's (except Bachmann obviously). I also started raiding their pre-owned pages regularly. Five (Hornby) Bulleid Pacifics for not much more than the price of two new ones, in the past two years.  😊😊😊😊😊

 

Sorry, I know thousands of you think Hornby can do no wrong, despite (commercially) seldom getting much right over the past two decades. The repeats of the soap opera have just become a terminal bore and I've ceased to give a toss what happens to them.

 

I once averaged a minimum spend of two grand a year on Hornby products. I've currently one coach and one loco pre-order still outstanding, that I'll be honouring. After that, I'll be avoiding anything in red boxes that's not indispensable to my plans.    

 

If the latest management re-earn Hornby's right to be the biggest name in the hobby, I will reconsider, but I'm not holding my breath. As things stand, we've lost the less dispensable "H", IMHO. 

 

Grumpy old git mode "off".

 

John

 

Interesting to see how big Hattons was

 

Clearly it might have been possible to build relationships to their mutual advantage but sadly wasnt to be

[maico]

On 13/03/2024 at 16:20, adb968008 said:

Model Bahn Shop Lippe, and Model Bahn Union both have no issues dealing with international sales to the UK, they too have the same post Brexit tax issues, but in reverse.

 

Indeed even with the tax bureacracy and greedy couriers I can buy HO in Germany, taxes included for 20-50% less than I can buy it in the UK… oddly the rrp prices for buying HO in Germany are now cheaper than before Brexit, as back then I would pay 22% German tax, not the 20% tax here in the UK… 

 

 

 

 

 

German MwSt is 19% and has been for years, not that you will be paying it for a non single-market export.

The reduced rate for food, books etc is 7%

[Colin_McLeod]

3 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Its back…….

 

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/directory

 

 

Hattons directory is back online.

 Excellent.

[1andrew1]

4 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

 

After the "Olympic Tat" debacle, I heard it from more than one trade contact that Hatton's reduced Hornby's unsold inventory mountain to the tune of £8m to restore cashflow where there was none, but had politely declined an invitation to take over the business. 

 

Hornby's announcement on the end of tiering was made public almost simultaneously with Hatton's one of their closure. Almost certainly too late to engender a change of plans.

 

Hatton's had certainly lost all their Hornby pre-orders when Tiering began, because nobody in their right mind would take the gamble on being in line for one of the token box of six that Hatton's would get on release. The days of "more than 10" were well-and-truly gone until something failed to sell.

 

To help compensate, I began placing all other pre-orders with Hatton's (except Bachmann obviously). I also started raiding their pre-owned pages regularly. Five (Hornby) Bulleid Pacifics for not much more than the price of two new ones, in the past two years.  😊😊😊😊😊

 

Sorry, I know thousands of you think Hornby can do no wrong, despite (commercially) seldom getting much right over the past two decades. The repeats of the soap opera have just become a terminal bore and I've ceased to give a toss what happens to them.

 

I once averaged a minimum spend of two grand a year on Hornby products. I've currently one coach and one loco pre-order still outstanding, that I'll be honouring. After that, I'll be avoiding anything in red boxes that's not indispensable to my plans.    

 

If the latest management re-earn Hornby's right to be the biggest name in the hobby, I will reconsider, but I'm not holding my breath. As things stand, we've lost the less dispensable "H", IMHO. 

 

Grumpy old git mode "off".

 

John

Rumours always float around and can be circular in nature and shared in good faith. 
 

In this instance, the facts don't seem to bear out the rumour. Hattons' total costs in y/e June 2013 were £8.5m. It ended the year with stocks of just under £2.6m and started the year with stocks of just over £2.6m. (Similar figures apply to y/e June 2012 and y/e June 2014).

 

Hattons announced its closure in January 2024 and Tiering ended in November 2023. Plenty of time to decide not to close the business at that stage. After all, Hattons didn't seem to have any plans for who would purchase its moulds or brand name in January when it announced its closure.

 

I doubt few think Hornby can do no harm commercially. I think many are aware it's a hard business to make money in, as the history of European and US brands and most recently Hattons bears testimony to.

Edited March 16 by 1andrew1

[Widnes Model Centre]

16 hours ago, 1andrew1 said:

 

 

Hattons announced its closure in January 2024 and Tiering ended in November 2023. Plenty of time to decide not to close the business at that stage. After all, Hattons didn't seem to have any plans for who would purchase its moulds or brand name in January when it announced its closure.

 

Hornby announced to the trade on the 23rd December 2023, that the Tier System was to end. The information was that it would be phased out and ended during January 2024.

[CUCKOO LINE]

On 16/03/2024 at 20:44, 1andrew1 said:

Rumours always float around and can be circular in nature and shared in good faith. 
 

In this instance, the facts don't seem to bear out the rumour. Hattons' total costs in y/e June 2013 were £8.5m. It ended the year with stocks of just under £2.6m and started the year with stocks of just over £2.6m. (Similar figures apply to y/e June 2012 and y/e June 2014).

 

Hattons announced its closure in January 2024 and Tiering ended in November 2023. Plenty of time to decide not to close the business at that stage. After all, Hattons didn't seem to have any plans for who would purchase its moulds or brand name in January when it announced its closure.

 

I doubt few think Hornby can do no harm commercially. I think many are aware it's a hard business to make money in, as the history of European and US brands and most recently Hattons bears testimony to.

Based on subsequent events and speed at which they happenned I suspect Hattons did have some ideas on what was going to happen to some of the moulds. I would have thought commercial negotiations would have prevented them giving any clues at the announcement date.

[adb968008]

On 18/03/2024 at 12:51, CUCKOO LINE said:

Based on subsequent events and speed at which they happenned I suspect Hattons did have some ideas on what was going to happen to some of the moulds. I would have thought commercial negotiations would have prevented them giving any clues at the announcement date.

so whats still unknown..

 

RHTT

Beilhack

10000/1

Class28

14xx

ICI Hopper

 

 

 

 

[big jim]

Anyone who, like myself, bulk bought the hattons next 18 decoders when they went cheap BLW technical services on eBay have a new batch of 21 to 18 adapters in stock, he’s not had any for a while due to supply issues and the CNY 

 

no connection just a satisfied customer 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203877429512?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=V5rZPaVTRVa&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=TJORlFVXTTy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

 

Edited March 19 by big jim

[Bucoops]

12 hours ago, big jim said:

Anyone who, like myself, bulk bought the hattons next 18 decoders when they went cheap BLW technical services on eBay have a new batch of 21 to 18 adapters in stock, he’s not had any for a while due to supply issues and the CNY 

 

no connection just a satisfied customer 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203877429512?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=V5rZPaVTRVa&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=TJORlFVXTTy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

 

 

I got mine direct from Lais (I don't mind buying their adapters).

[WCML100]

14 hours ago, adb968008 said:

so whats still unknown..

 

RHTT

Beilhack

10000/1

Class28

14xx

ICI Hopper

 

 

 

 

 

add the FEA's to that list too

[The Meerkat]

6 hours ago, WCML100 said:

 

add the FEA's to that list too

20 hours ago, adb968008 said:

so whats still unknown..

 

RHTT

Beilhack

10000/1

Class28

14xx

ICI Hopper

 

 

 

 

 

i think accurascale has them.  McC or Fran said there be more announcements in next couple of months and to stay tuned

[phil-b259]

6 hours ago, WCML100 said:

 

add the FEA's to that list too

 

Technically we still don't know whats has happened to the tooling for the Genesis coaches either as Rails have made it pretty clear they don't own it and Accurascale say 'generic' stuff is not what they do either....

[G-BOAF]

Just a final thank you to Hattons. In late Feb in finally got round to returning a faulty Rapido 15XX (which I had reported shortly after delivery, but hand not got round to sending back); it was returned and refunded as arranged. Exemplary service to the end.

They will really be missed.

 

 

[Nile]

 

 

[big jim]

12 hours ago, Bucoops said:

 

I got mine direct from Lais (I don't mind buying their adapters).

I couldn’t find any on the lais shop

[Bucoops]

10 hours ago, big jim said:

I couldn’t find any on the lais shop

 

https://laisdcc.com/spare-parts/ :)

 

It diverts to ali express for sales - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003711888352.html

 

If you only need one or two then a UK supplier is better but for bulk I go direct.

[Invicta]

On 19/03/2024 at 18:59, adb968008 said:

so whats still unknown..

 

RHTT

Beilhack

10000/1

Class28

14xx

ICI Hopper

 

 

 

 

 Some of those were in partnership with manufacturers (10000/1 was Dapol and the ICI Hoppers were Oxford) , so would the tooling presumably be owned by them?

[GWR-fan]

Perhaps a little selfish reaction on my part with the closing of the site,  but for sixty days now I have not touched my wallet to purchase any model railway items.  I have been tempted by a couple of new releases,  particularly GWR related,  however, like several recent new release purchases that have not met expectations,  I have resisted the urge to spend.  It surprised me how easy it was to break a spending habit that was virtually a daily experience for nearly the last ten years.

 

Another benefit of the store's closure is that my eBay sales have boomed,  so there was a silver lining (at least for me).

[MarkSG]

It will make a difference to my purchasing habits, although not necessarily buying less overall. With Hattons, if there was a new announcement that I liked the look of then I could pre-order to the trunk, and then as they were released they gradually stacked up until I decided to get them sent to me in one box. It both guaranteed getting the item, with no risk of missing out if it sold out on pre-order, and minimised postage costs.

 

If I queue up pre-orders with any other retailer, though, what will happen is that I'll get a steady stream of single item deliveries, in some cases only a few days apart, each with its own associated postage costs. So I'll end up spending a lot more money for the same number of things.

 

To avoid that, I think I'll probably be less keen to pre-order in the first place. Only big ticket items, such as locos, that I'd be happy to get in a standalone delivery, will be pre-ordered. For wagons, I think I'll switch back to taking my chances on actual release, and hoping that I can time an order to get two or three (or more) recent releases in the same parcel. 

 

That does mean I'll be more at risk of missing out on some popular items. But I think that's less of an issue with lower cost items such as wagons - very few of them are going to be "must buy" purchases in the same way as an eagerly anticipated loco. So if I end up having to take my chances on the secondary market, I won't be too bothered, and it won't be the end of the world if nothing turns up at all.

[Gridiron]