Post by wagnersteve on Jan 9, 2024 13:25:15 GMT -8
1/9/2023, starting about 4:15 p.m., EST
As if the turmoil over the future status of what has been M.B. Klein isn't enough, Hattons, which had acquired it, will be closing, according to a message from the firm dated yesterday, entitled "Hattons Closure -- Customer FAQ", which reached my email sometime today and I have just now read. It is very clearly aimed at customers in the United Kingdom. It says "the company is NOT insolvent" but "is being wound down in an orderly fashion, leaving no outstanding debts". It attributes the closing to "changing market conditions", "declining customer numbers, changing customer demographics and supply chain disruption" plus "increased costs of compliance", "Brexit, GST and other operational costsof running an international business" having "all increased dramatically over the past few years. We do not have an exact date for closing down as of yet. We will be communicasting th is in the coming weeks."
Much more follows, including what will happen to pre-orders with Hattons and alternate sources for lines of interest chiefly to modelers in the UK or of UK railways. There is a link to a "final sale", with very few HO items of American prototypes or made by firms with a large presence in the US.
What impact, if any, this will have on the business in the US that Hattons had acquired I don't know. I'd welcome information from anyone who knows more about this.
As if the turmoil over the future status of what has been M.B. Klein isn't enough, Hattons, which had acquired it, will be closing, according to a message from the firm dated yesterday, entitled "Hattons Closure -- Customer FAQ", which reached my email sometime today and I have just now read. It is very clearly aimed at customers in the United Kingdom. It says "the company is NOT insolvent" but "is being wound down in an orderly fashion, leaving no outstanding debts". It attributes the closing to "changing market conditions", "declining customer numbers, changing customer demographics and supply chain disruption" plus "increased costs of compliance", "Brexit, GST and other operational costsof running an international business" having "all increased dramatically over the past few years. We do not have an exact date for closing down as of yet. We will be communicasting th is in the coming weeks."
Much more follows, including what will happen to pre-orders with Hattons and alternate sources for lines of interest chiefly to modelers in the UK or of UK railways. There is a link to a "final sale", with very few HO items of American prototypes or made by firms with a large presence in the US.
What impact, if any, this will have on the business in the US that Hattons had acquired I don't know. I'd welcome information from anyone who knows more about this.
