Model Boat Mayhem

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length.
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Amerang. Latest casualty  (Read 4320 times)

tony23

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 195
  • IOM, Marblehead Yachts
Amerang. Latest casualty
« on: June 27, 2013, 11:37:13 pm »

Looks another casualty in the modelling world http://www.amerang.co.uk/holding/

I wonder who's left out there that's not also in trouble in these hard times  <:(
Logged

Colin Bishop

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Online Online
  • Posts: 12,171
  • Location: SW Surrey, UK
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2013, 12:07:49 am »

Along with Amerang the Modelzone shops are also in administration - a victim of high rental levels.
Colin
Logged

ardarossan

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 653
  • Location: UK
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2013, 02:59:17 am »

Along with Amerang the Modelzone shops are also in administration - a victim of high rental levels.
Colin

I may be wrong, but isn't there some connection between Modelzone and Amerang anyway? (Other than a regular retailer/distributor relationship)...

...and is everyone who is uses Hobbyzone accessories going to blame this on the economic climate!....  %)

Logged
How much wood would a Woodchuck chuck, if a Woodchuck would chuck wood?

Timo2

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 99
  • Location: City of Glasgow
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2013, 09:35:14 am »

HI All


    FYI     =     http://www.modelzone.co.uk/holding/


     Timo2



            P.S.   Hobbyzone.inc  is in the  USA
Logged
Just a Buoy at heart

Jonty

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 894
  • Location: Hoselaw - facing The Cheviot (Scottish Borders)
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2013, 10:56:11 am »

  Colin is absolutely right in blaming high rents for a lot of the high street casualties. Rents, however, are a product of property prices, and despite the last few years they are still at unsustainable levels.

  When my wife and I bought our business eight years ago we were offered the freehold of the shop. We accepted and took out a hefty mortgage. It has crippled us financially ever since, but it's still better than having a rapacious landlord increasing the rent every three years.

  There must be some tax anomaly so that a landlord is better off with an empty shop rather than one let at a lower rent. Since landlords usually work with borrowed money one wonders how much more financial trouble is in the pipeline.
Logged
I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life;
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps 'em on the knife.

Neil

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,334
  • Location: near Fleetwood
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2013, 11:03:10 am »

 
a rapacious landlord increasing the rent every three years.
 
greed, greed and more greed. <:( <:( <:( <:(
Logged

Circlip

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4,449
  • Location: North of Watford, South of Hadrians wall
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2013, 11:40:23 am »

Seems that If "Our" local council wanted to fill the empties by reducing the rates Jonty, what would happen to those already paying exorbitant rent/rates? A reduction in charges?  Watch out for the low flying Cumberlands.
 
  Regards  Ian.
Logged
You might not like what I say, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
 
What I said is not what you  think you heard.

triumphjon

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 789
  • Location: portsmouth , hampshire
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2013, 12:29:20 pm »

i walk past the local modelzone most days , everyday since before christmas they have had a sale on OR big discounts on many lines of stock . talking to a freind this morning he confirmed that even while these "sales" have been taking place hes able to go into another  small local shop and buy his diecast busses for around ten pounds cheaper !
Logged

inertia

  • Guest
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #8 on: June 28, 2013, 12:32:40 pm »

In our fair city centre you can buy any type of take-away food, have your nails airbrushed, buy a mobile phone and open a bank account - but try finding a shoe shop, butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers, hardware shop, blah blah. It seems that everything either has to cost less than a pound (aka crappy Chinese imports) or has been donated to a charity for resale. The logical conclusion of the way things are going will be charity shops selling anything and everything  that can't be had at Tesco - for less than a pound...............
Never mind - there's still one or two excellent pubs!
Dave M
Logged

sparkey

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,211
  • I think I am as mad as I think I am then I am mad
  • Location: wandsworth
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2013, 01:46:24 pm »

 %% Be careful tesco are buying up all the pubs round here and turning them into mini tesco's,you can't get a pint of special in tesco's,I rather have a decent pub than another supermarket,Ray. %% %% %%
Logged
My boats are all wood like my head fluctuat nec mergitur

inertia

  • Guest
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #10 on: June 28, 2013, 01:57:03 pm »

Ray
PM sent
Dave
Logged

sparkey

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1,211
  • I think I am as mad as I think I am then I am mad
  • Location: wandsworth
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #11 on: June 28, 2013, 02:11:21 pm »

Dave PM sent ray
Logged
My boats are all wood like my head fluctuat nec mergitur

html

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 324
  • Gipping Valley Model Boat Club
  • Location: Ipswich, Suffolk
ModelZone
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2013, 11:07:14 am »

Message on the ModelZone web site, looks like they have gone into administration.
Brian
 
"On 26 June 2013, Richard Michael Hawes, Nicholas Guy Edwards and Robert James Harding of Deloitte LLP were appointed Joint Administrators of Modelzone Holdings Limited, The Amerang Group Limited, Modelzone Limited and Amerang Limited (together the "Companies").  The affairs, business and property of the Companies are being managed by the Joint Administrators. The Joint Administrators act as agents of the Companies only and contract without personal liability. The Joint Administrators are authorised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).  All licensed Insolvency Practitioners of Deloitte LLP are licensed in the UK"
Logged
I do not suffer insanity, I quite like it!

tigertiger

  • Global Moderator
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7,748
  • Location: Kunming, city of eternal springtime, SW China.
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2013, 04:02:53 pm »

Rent and rates are a killer in the UK
But there is no rent control at all in China, and very little protection for tenants or adherence to contracts (the courts do very little in a corrupt system).


In the last year, I know of 3 expat businesses that were forced out by rent increases. The usual pattern seems to be _
1. Move into low rent dump.
2. Decorate.
3. You are no longer in a dump and the landlord increases your rent (nothing you can do about it).
4. You have to pay the rent, but still manage to build your business
5. Rent doubles.
6. You survive another year.
7..... Rent re-doubles (this continues until you quit or go bust)


n. Landlord takes over the property or passes on the going concern and goodwill to a new paying tenant. Probably friend or family.


I have only known one place buck the trend.
They opened a place just up the road, 5 times the size, having removed as much of the decoration from the old place as possible, leaving nothing of value, just a 3 month lag for decoration before the new owners could start trading, and thus taking all the goodwill and custom with them to the new venue.
Logged
The only stupid question is the one I didn't ask

tigertiger

  • Global Moderator
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7,748
  • Location: Kunming, city of eternal springtime, SW China.
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2013, 04:10:22 pm »



  When my wife and I bought our business eight years ago we were offered the freehold of the shop. We accepted and took out a hefty mortgage. It has crippled us financially ever since, but it's still better than having a rapacious landlord increasing the rent every three years.

Spot on Jonty
When I go back to my hometown, the only businesses that have survived since I was a kid (some father son) are those that owned the premises, or had 99 year leases.
Logged
The only stupid question is the one I didn't ask

Colin Bishop

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Online Online
  • Posts: 12,171
  • Location: SW Surrey, UK
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #15 on: July 01, 2013, 04:56:26 pm »

There are several businesses in my local high street which have closed down due to rent demands. We have a specialist travel agent which owned one half of their double premises and leased the other. They have been forced to give up the leased part of the premises because the landlord wanted to put the rent up to an extent that the business couldn't sustain.
Where local shops have closed down they have been left empty, taken over by charities or replaced by 'nationals' such as W.H. Smith and Subway who can apparently afford the high costs. A year or so after W.H. Smith opened, the local bookshop closed down. The proprietor said he was squeezed between Smiths selling books for less than he could stock them and three charity shops selling nearly new books at silly prices. At the moment, our local newsagent is still holding out as a result of a 'buy local' campaign urging residents to support local businesses.
Colin
p.s. The bookshop looks like being replaced by yet another tea room - we already have half a dozen!
Logged

Circlip

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4,449
  • Location: North of Watford, South of Hadrians wall
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #16 on: July 01, 2013, 06:59:23 pm »

And despite a standing order at his local newsagents for two model engineering publications, a mate still misses out "Privileges" from the magazine owners for supporting local business. A bit of hypocrisy there but hey ho, he's doing his bit.
 
 Regards   Ian.
Logged
You might not like what I say, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
 
What I said is not what you  think you heard.

grasshopper

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 773
  • Location: Lincolnshire!
    • A1 Hobbies Ltd.
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #17 on: July 01, 2013, 07:34:03 pm »

Contrary to popular belief, it's too easy to blame rapacious landlords for slamming up rents, local landlords are actually taking offers on properties rather than them standing empty...


My business is about to close as I've come to the end of my lease and sales aren't what I can rely on, the costs are high, staffing, insurance, energy etc., etc., the biggest thing we've found is that people come in, we make them a cuppa, chat, advise and demonstrate. The customer then goes away and buys it for a couple of quid cheaper off the Internet.
The number of times that has happened makes me wonder why I bothered.  After Christmas we had quite a few people bringing stuff in for repair, exchange or warranty work on products we don't even stock, let alone actually sold to the customer - Internet sales again but the buyers were too idle or it was too expensive or inconvenient to return to the original vendor.
Then they moaned how it was unfair that we held the right to charge for any work we did or costs incurred returning to manufacturers...


We tried to promote local hobbies and the various modelling disciplines but we can't carry on doing it for nothing.
Logged

Colin Bishop

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Online Online
  • Posts: 12,171
  • Location: SW Surrey, UK
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #18 on: July 01, 2013, 07:34:03 pm »

Quote
And despite a standing order at his local newsagents for two model engineering publications, a mate still misses out "Privileges" from the magazine owners for supporting local business. A bit of hypocrisy there but hey ho, he's doing his bit.
Placing a regular order at your newsagent is an agreement between you and them, the publisher will have no knowledge of that. The newsagent's arrangements will be with the distributors and not the publishers.
The publisher can only engage with people who make direct subscriptions for whom they have records of.
Publisher's 'privileges and special offers are funded by not having to pay the very substantial costs imposed by distributors for stocking the magazines if readers take out subscriptions. That is how the publishing industry works. A subscriber is always worth more than a newstrade sale which is why there are so many incentives to sign up.
So, it is the reader's choice which route to go down. No hypocrisy in my view, just usual business arrangements.
Colin
Logged

Circlip

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4,449
  • Location: North of Watford, South of Hadrians wall
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #19 on: July 01, 2013, 10:40:38 pm »

Yes Colin and I used to have continuous subscriptions with the same publishers but the inability for them to keep their part of the bargain caused me to quit and go back to the old method of support your local trader. At the end of the day, it's only accountancy driven.
 
  Regards  Ian.
Logged
You might not like what I say, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
 
What I said is not what you  think you heard.

Colin Bishop

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Online Online
  • Posts: 12,171
  • Location: SW Surrey, UK
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #20 on: July 01, 2013, 11:15:42 pm »

Ian,
I quite agree, it is indeed all accountancy driven and that is a shame as I think that it is a great mistake for accountants to be put in the driving seat as they usually have no strategic vision and tend to take a short term view on things. They do perform a vital role but they should always be in a subordinate position and not ultimately responsible for calling the shots. The days when the 'Hobby Magazines' were actually part of the hobby are long gone and will not come again. Those of us who experienced them were indeed fortunate. There was once a 'Golden Age' but those days are long over. Have a look at the last article in my Model Boats 2013 Special issue as a nostalgic reminder, those were the days indeed! Example below.
On the other side of the coin the publication of niche magazines is a precarious area financially and the margins are very small so there is in practice little scope for anything but tight financial management. I know this from personal experience in editing the Model Boats Special issues. (Don't miss the latest one - it's great!  :-)) )
If you look at the Model Boating situation in the UK, the situation is that the average age of readers is relentlessly increasing and as long term readers drop off the perch they are not being replaced on a one for one basis by new readers so the total market is steadily contracting. At the moment it is supporting two national magazines but this is not a sustainable situation. The survivor will receive a boost for several years from its competitor's readers but you only have to attend any of the major model boating shows and look at the age of the attendees to see where everything is heading in the longer term. When I attend shows I see the same people I was familiar with back in the 1970s. As one of them remarked, 'we have all grown old together and there are few people coming up behind to replace us'.
Model boating will survive in the longer term but on nowhere near the scale that it does even today.
So make hay while the sun shines!
Colin
Logged

Captbearuk

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 79
  • Location: Alhaurin el Grande, Spain
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #21 on: July 14, 2013, 12:34:40 pm »

I popped into a Modelzone shop yesterday to look for any bargains. A lot of 20% discount signs but with an overprice to start with I wasn't tempted. I did however stock up on some paints at 50% discount.
I know it's a bit 'vulture' like picking from a corpse but someone will. The staff think they might stay open for a further week or so and there may be further reductions, so maybe worth a visit.
Glyn
Logged

mermod

  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 898
  • Location: Devonport Tasmania
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #22 on: July 14, 2013, 12:45:57 pm »

 
 
Contrary to popular belief, it's too easy to blame rapacious landlords for slamming up rents, local landlords are actually taking offers on properties rather than them standing empty...


My business is about to close as I've come to the end of my lease and sales aren't what I can rely on, the costs are high, staffing, insurance, energy etc., etc., the biggest thing we've found is that people come in, we make them a cuppa, chat, advise and demonstrate. The customer then goes away and buys it for a couple of quid cheaper off the Internet.
The number of times that has happened makes me wonder why I bothered.  After Christmas we had quite a few people bringing stuff in for repair, exchange or warranty work on products we don't even stock, let alone actually sold to the customer - Internet sales again but the buyers were too idle or it was too expensive or inconvenient to return to the original vendor.
Then they moaned how it was unfair that we held the right to charge for any work we did or costs incurred returning to manufacturers...


We tried to promote local hobbies and the various modelling disciplines but we can't carry on doing it for nothing.

Word for word why I closed my shop but also throw in shoplifting.
Phill
Logged
People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
Isaac Asimov

unbuiltnautilus

  • Portsmouth Model Boat Display Team
  • Full Mayhemer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3,154
  • Location: Portsmouth, England, third rock from the Sun....
Re: Amerang. Latest casualty
« Reply #23 on: July 18, 2013, 10:03:11 am »

http://www.creditman.biz/uk/members/news-view.asp?newsviewid=18358&id=1&mylocation=News

A little bit of good news for Thunder Tiger and Billing product among others. Ripmax saving the Amerang name. Will know more next week.
Logged
Listen politely, nod approvingly, then do what you want, works for me!
Pages: [1]   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.091 seconds with 22 queries.