End of an era - Hattons Closing down.....

[Stephen]

Just seen their social media posting - Hatton's are closing down after 77 years in the business....

Real shame - always been a happy customer of theirs, as I'm sure are many others.

Site wide sale on their website, which has resulted in it crashing as you'd expect....

Cheers,

Stephen

 

[richard carr]

Thats a bit of a surprise.

Did they still have a proper shop ?

Richard

 

[BrushType4]

Thats a bit of a surprise.

Did they still have a proper shop ?

Richard

Yes they did in Widnes. A bit out of the way really.

Even though I received an email this afternoon from Richard I still couldn’t quite believe it until I saw the website announcement.

I hope all the staff impacted find alternative work quickly in these difficult times.

 

[simond]

I remember Smithdown Road…

 

[richard carr]

What was that SImon ?

 

[simond]

Their shop in Liverpool, before they moved to Widnes. I remember their adverts in RM as well, 2, 3, 4 pages every month.

 

[ModelRailwayQuest]

Sad news Hattons are closing down

 

[James Spooner]

And for many years an Aladdin’s list of Hornby Dublo products as I think they bought the entire stock when the original Binns Road Hornby company ceased production….

 

[simond]

And Hornby 0 gauge tinplate

 

[markjj]

And for many years an Aladdin’s list of Hornby Dublo products as I think they bought the entire stock when the original Binns Road Hornby company ceased production….

I can remember buying Hornby Dublo from them as a small boy/Teenager back in the late 60's and early 70's.
It's a real shame to see institutions like Hattons disappear but a sign of the times I guess today

 

[Richard Gawler]

Hattons were always a first class company to deal with. A couple of years ago they took a trade-in from me, two boxes of 00 RTR to fund my start in 7mm scale. The boxes never arrived. We had an easy chat over the phone on what to do, and Hattons paid me in full. They supplied me with all kinds of bits for my lockdown project just before I moved to 7 mm scale, to me they were like a part of the furniture. Really sorry to see them go.

 

[timbowales]

This absolutely the worst start to 2024. Is it just the shop or the whole operation?
What will happent to all their proposed own brand products if it is the entire operation? Hope someone can step in to save those.
Tim T

 

[Firehead]

It's the entire operation that is closing.

They are honouring some orders on their own brand products, but others are not being produced. More details here FAQ

The tooling and rights to these models remains with Hattons at the moment, but I am sure that once they have finalised everything, that tooling could be sold on to another manufacturer. I also hope things like the Barclay & the P Class will reappear at some point in the future.

 

[David Mylchreest]

This is unexpected!. I must say that I've always been really pleased with the outcomes of my inter-reactions with Hattons and there were a fair number of them primarily because their website was so much better than their competitors.
Does anyone know the reason for their closing?

 

[Stephen]

This is unexpected!. I must say that I've always been really pleased with the outcomes of my inter-reactions with Hattons and there were a fair number of them primarily because their website was so much better than their competitors.
Does anyone know the reason for their closing?

Hi David,

As you would expect there is a lot of speculation about why they have decided to call it a day, but their website sates the following:

"We've put together a small FAQ which we hope answers most of these questions.

• The company is NOT insolvent. The company is being wound down in an orderly fashion, leaving no outstanding debts.
• Changing market conditions have had a large impact on the business, we have seen this in declining customer numbers, changing customer demographics and supply chain disruption.
• Increased cost of compliance has become a large factor. Brexit, GST and other operational costs of running an international business have all increased dramatically over the past few years. "

Their website gives more details, alos about future productions and what will and wont be produced:

Hattons Closure - Customer FAQ - Hattons Model Railways

Hattons Closure - Customer FAQ

www.hattons.co.uk

I've always been a fan of them, although always did wonder why their second hand section had some slightly 'confused' prices for defective items that were not far off prices of brand new items.

Cheers,

Stephen

 

[ullypug]

I bought a Nucast kit from Hattons with my first grant cheque back in 1987. Back then they were advertised for sale by Hattons in the Modeller. Shows how much the hobby has changed.

 

[BrushType4]

My take is that the need for Hattons and others like them is just not what it used to be. Manufactures do not need the box shifters to sell to the market as Hornby, Dapol etc has shown with their own online offerings. Hattons have tried a few things to remain relevant and some of those may well have hastened the end with Bachmann falling out over Hattons entering the manufacturing sphere and quality issues with some things they did make, the A3/A4’s etc.

Without doubt if the business was viable for medium and long term, then investors could have been found and the business sold.

It is perhaps a huge credit to the integrity of the owners of hattons that they have stopped and intend to close without leaving debt. Many businesses would have hung on until debts were too great to recover from. It would seem that it was obviously a business decision made in last few days as Hattons completed a business acquisition in November that wouldn’t have sensibly happened had the greater business been planned to close.

Sad for Hattons but for consumers not much impact. Plenty of others to fill the gap and even better yet the bricks and mortar suppliers.

 

[Eastsidepilot]

That's the way it's going, manufacturers will outsell the retailer's. Same way on-line shopping killed the 'High st.'



Col.

 

[Ressaldar]

That's the way it's going, manufacturers will outsell the retailer's. Same way on-line shopping killed the 'High st.'



Col.

Hi Col.

On a similar tack, I went to a local Peugeot car showroom on Monday just for a nose around as I am thinking of changing the car and was very surprised to find no new cars in the showroom and be told that the manufacturer was now only selling new cars 'on line' - is this another version of manufacturer dominance? The garage was still authorised to carry out warranty work, servicing and repair Peugeot.

regards

Mike

 

[Oz7mm]

I agree with Phil about the need for retailers in a lot of areas. They inevitably add cost for the consumer. If they don't add value, why should the consumer pay it? Sad for Hattons and its staff but it appears a well managed decision and for that they should be applauded.

John