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Phil Walthers asked us to post the following letter from him to Rich Kirchen, author of the Business Journal article. He felt it might clarify things and answer some of your questions. *** Christianson Managing Editor Model Railroader magazine September 2, 2005 Dear Rich, I enjoyed talking to you about our recent acquisition and appreciate the publicity The Business Journal provided Walthers and the model railroad industry. Because of our long term commitment to the independent hobby retailer, I feel that it is important to clarify the focus that our company has and how we look at our different markets. While our interview covered a range of topics, the article focused primarily on opportunities with Wal-Mart. The driver for this acquisition was the complementary and synergistic nature of the Life-Like and Walthers hobby product lines. In particular, the Life-Like Proto™ and Heritage™ brands of highly detailed model railroad locomotives was a perfect match for our own line of miniature freight and passenger cars. Additionally, we added N scale products that will help us better serve an important hobby market segment. The opportunity to acquire a line of train and race car sets that are sold into the mass market, and the Darda line of self-propelled cars that is sold to independent toy retailers, was a beneficial diversification of our product offering and customer base. It is important to note that the product requirements of the hobby market and the mass market are very different. We don’t envision transferring our existing Walthers hobby lines to the mass market, rather we hope to increase the number of new hobbyists created through their mass market buying experience. Thanks once again for the chance to share with your readers this exciting chapter in our company’s history. J. Philip Walthers, President Wm. K. Walthers, Inc.
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