Polk’s Will Close Its Doors 12-31-13

[vsmith]

This email is released today:

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Polk’s Will Close Its Doors 12-31-13

October 1st, 2013

Since 1935, we have provided service and innovation to the Hobby industry. In this latest downturn, we cut back staff to the minimum required to survive. Then the government battle over the debt ceiling drove the consumer market down even further.

We’ve managed to stay in business, but the continued depression for the consumer has caused us to fall into debt that is unsustainable. We have put several million dollars into product development over recent years, but the need for customers to cut back on non-essentials has caused this investment to be lacking in returns.

We have seen leisure activities like golf courses plunge in popularity, as funds for such recreation have dried up. It seems to be the same for hobby time investments. Our products are no longer inexpensive as they were in the 1930s-era Depression. The cost of manufacturing along with minimum production runs and long lead time has caused a lack of ability to continue as a sustainable entity. It’s no longer a business!

It has been a pleasure to help our creative consumer base to enjoy their hobby and we have no regrets in doing so. Our business grew every year until the 2008 as the recession caused a shrinking of the mindset to stay active in our large-scale model train arena. We know that smaller scales have remained viable, but the higher cost of Large Scale trains and the space required to run them have not maintained their share of the market. Our airplane R/C portion of our business was lost when our patented frequency changer was lost to the 2.4Ghz portion of the marketplace, with no frequency compounds needed any longer.

For 80 years, the Polk family has made a fair living in the Hobby industry. I can’t help but remember the scores of co-workers that have helped make this organization as special as it was. Thanks to them all, but notably: Gil Rose, B.M. Song, J.K. Kim, Sam Kimm, Tom Flynn, Cliff Crane, Charlie Binder, Marvin Binder, John and Sherry Shievdayal, Aixa Lebron, Joe Bamberger, David Newell, Walter Matuch, John Mikesh, Navin Shievdayal, Marguerite Hubert (Rose), Michael J. Vickey, Jonathan Polk, Scott Polk, Fred Polk, Irwin Polk, Nathan Polk, Maryann Polk Bob Calandra, George Adams, Michael Hauptmann and so many others, it would take a book to list them all. While I can’t list all the hundreds that were part of the team, they remain in my heart and mind.

Our humble thanks to our loyal customers. Our apologies for not being able to keep this almost 80-year-old business going. It’s a heartbreaker for us all.


All the best,

The Polk Family

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This is a sad day for the hobby but equally sadly not that surprising given the last year or so.

I do find it interesting that the release specifically says "Polk Hobby" and NOT Aristocraft, I hope that means someone is going to step in and take over the Aristo product line. I wonder what this means for the RMT line in O? I believe they were spun off the same way Crest was. 

[Rene Schweitzer]

Thanks for posting this, Vic. The magazine did not receive any communication from Aristo-Craft, nor is anything on their website as of a few minutes ago.

[Rene Schweitzer]

We have been notified and posted a short notice: http://grw.trains.com/en/Product%20and%20Hobby%20News/Hobby%20News/2013/10/Aristo%20Craft%20Polks%20to%20close%20its%20doors.aspx

[Camaro1967]

Thanks for linking those comments to the news part of this story from the Magazine site.  All the forums are busy bashing Aristocraft.  Honestly, I hate to see this happen. I have used exclusively Aristocraft trains for over 10 years, and have not had any serious product defects, that many are complaining about. I just think that overall, this has to be a sad day for our hobby. 

[jsanchez]

   I am very sad to see them go, Polk / Aristocraft was definitely a pillar in the model railroad community. They came up with so many great innovations over the years from early use of sound, wireless controls, to large models of North American based prototypes. They sure did help sponsor many events and model railway displays( Hershey Park Garden Layout for example). It has been a rough 5 years for everyone in the model train industry, the economy is still lousy for most folks, there are still many supply problems with China and the hobby store base has shrunk tremendously. I just want to say thanks for all the great products and support over the years. I still think the best years are yet come for our hobby, I just hope more of us can hang in there till that time arrives.

Jim

[Iain]

I am very sorry to see Aristocraft go under. Your trains have been the mainstay of my Garden railroad for 14 years.  I found them to be more robust that other manufacturers (took them three times as long to wear out). I am now checking out Ebay and buying up any parts I feel I will need even road names I don't really want just to use as parts to keep my Canadian Road names running,

It would be nice if some other manufacturer would buy up your molds, etc just to keep your models going but I have a feeling that won't happen.

This is a sad event for Garden railroading.