RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

Sad to see Tower Hobbies as one of the companies. They have been good to me for many many many years and especially since moving to Australia has been my exclusive source for parts.

Little update, some numbers released

just saw this as well..
".....including an incredible $2,265,026.91 to Futaba in Japan. Other notable debts are well over 1 million dollars each to various vendors, just under 400K to UPS for shipping services, and 354K to Team Associated. Add to this the pending lawsuit that Traxxas filed for patent infringements in 2016, and it does seem like Hobbico’s days are numbered."

Wow, it's hard to get my head around owing somebody that much money.

The petition says they are over 100,000,000 in debt


The employees are the real losers in this deal. Some guys stock ownership program was valued at $70k which is now valued at 18k.


Makes you wonder if Traxxas deliberately stuck the last nail in Hobbico's coffin.

im wondering if filing a lawsuit was just a way of breaking their contract with Hobbico. I bet Hobbico were probably already late on payments and Traxxas saw the writing on the wall.

I almost can't imagine how much product that is. Millions of dollars in RC equipment and parts in DEBT. WOW.

jwscab wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2018 2:31 pm I almost can't imagine how much product that is. Millions of dollars in RC equipment and parts in DEBT. WOW.

I have a hard time figuring in that too especially when you are talking about pricing we could only imagine coming straight from a supplier.

Todd

klavy69 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:03 pm

jwscab wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2018 2:31 pm I almost can't imagine how much product that is. Millions of dollars in RC equipment and parts in DEBT. WOW.

I have a hard time figuring in that too especially when you are talking about pricing we could only imagine coming straight from a supplier.

Todd

easy to say in hindsight, but the futaba's of the world who kept shipping to TH even though they had such late AR, I don't know what they were thinking, really... it's not like that debt built overnight...

I imagine there will be ripples in the industry because Tower Hobbies was such a large seller, manufacturers will have to find multiple other smaller retailers that can sell at the volume Tower did.

shodog wrote: ↑Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:05 am I imagine there will be ripples in the industry because Tower Hobbies was such a large seller, manufacturers will have to find multiple other smaller retailers that can sell at the volume Tower did.

Looks like Horizon is already getting a (large) piece of the pie...

And now LRP is shutting down.

http://www.redrc.net/2018/01/lrp-closes-its-doors/

I heard on one of my heli sites that hobbico is employee owned for the most part so they stand to lose everything. Gotta feel for those workers.

Another hobby shop closes, sad as I've personally been there and bought a Tamiya Mini Frog. I also distinctly remember being in awe of the Jerobee/Bolink cabinet.

They blame hobbico as the reason for closing but wondering if it is a scapegoat?

Sad nonetheless.....

https://m.eastbayexpress.com/CultureSpyBlog/archives/2018/01/24/boss-robot-hobby-in-elmwood-closes-after-15-years-in-business

.