Huffy in Chapter 11

[Mark Janeba]

According to my local paper's business section, Huffy is filing chapter
11 bankruptcy.

....I thought I remember them closing a few years back - or was that just
the last american Huffy *factory* closing, with the business continuing
as in importer?

Inquiring minds, and all that -

Mark Janeba
(Never owned a Huffy)

[Callistus Valerius]

> According to my local paper's business section, Huffy is filing chapter
> 11 bankruptcy.
>
> ...I thought I remember them closing a few years back - or was that just
> the last american Huffy *factory* closing, with the business continuing
> as in importer?
>
> Inquiring minds, and all that -
>
> Mark Janeba
> (Never owned a Huffy)

When Schwinn entered the Walmart market, Huffy didn't have a chance.
Those Schwinn stingrays are eating the market up.

[Werehatrack]

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 11:12:33 GMT, "Callistus Valerius"
> wrote:

>> According to my local paper's business section, Huffy is filing chapter
>> 11 bankruptcy.

No surprise. They've been on a slide for the past year, and got
de-listed off the NYSE in August.

>> ...I thought I remember them closing a few years back - or was that just
>> the last american Huffy *factory* closing, with the business continuing
>> as in importer?

Their bikes have remained present in the marketplace in a diminishing
number of outlets for a while now, but their other sports-related
products are their main business from what I understand. I saw a
report that they sold off a basketball product line, but ISTR that
they still have golf clubs, scooters, skateboards, and hockey stuff.
I suspect that their inability to come close to the variety of bikes
from Pacific was what did them in on that front. From what little I
can see, most of their current line seems to be kiddie bikes, which
isn't exactly a high-profit or prestige segment.

>> Inquiring minds, and all that -
>>
>> Mark Janeba
>> (Never owned a Huffy)
>
> When Schwinn entered the Walmart market, Huffy didn't have a chance.
>Those Schwinn stingrays are eating the market up.

Schwinn didn't "enter" the Wal-Mart market. First it got borged by
Pacific, which was already well into WallyWorld. From there it was
just a matter of time before Pacific slapped the Schwinn name on bikes
that were bound for Mall-Wart's racks. The fact that they decided to
market their fool's plaything "chopper" via that channel is hardly
surprising; what is mildly amusing is that while I've seen them in the
stores for quite a while, I have yet to see one under the bum of a
child (or any other age of rider) in the area.

I have heard some bike shop operators lament that as far as they are
concerned, the real Schwinn is dead; arguably, it can be said to have
been either dead or moribund before Pacific assimilated the remains.
What persists is a zombie with a marketing division pulling its
strings.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

[Mark Janeba]

>>>According to my local paper's business section, Huffy is filing chapter
>>>11 bankruptcy.
>
> No surprise. They've been on a slide for the past year, and got
> de-listed off the NYSE in August.
>
>
>>>...I thought I remember them closing a few years back - or was that just
>>>the last american Huffy *factory* closing, with the business continuing
>>>as in importer?

Sigh. Guess I gotta answer my own question. After a bit of a dig with
Google:

Huffy closed "its largest U.S. factory and [laid] off 950 employees"
around **June 1998**, apparently moving to the Memphis area - or as
another source put it, "Huffy Corp.’s bicycle plant left Celina [Ohio]
in 1998 and went the route of so many other American manufacturers —
first to nonunion labor, then overseas"

I gather today's Huffys are from China.

Note that Huffy is filing chapter 11 (reorganization), not the chapter
that means liquidation, so we're probably gonna continue to see Huffys
for a while yet, if the faux-Schwinns don't drive Huffy completely over
the edge.

References for the curious:
http://scancat.com/huffybike/
http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/1998/06/08/story1.html
http://rgj.gannettonline.com/gns/jobs/day3side.html


Mark Janeba
....who remembers bike fests having "Huffy Tosses", competitions to build
a contraption to hurl a Huffy the farthest distance.

[Tom Sherman]

Werehatrack wrote:

> ...
> I have heard some bike shop operators lament that as far as they are
> concerned, the real Schwinn is dead; arguably, it can be said to have
> been either dead or moribund before Pacific assimilated the remains.
> What persists is a zombie with a marketing division pulling its
> strings....

We can only hope that the "Paramount" name never shows up on a piece of
crap.

--
Tom Sherman

[Frank]

According to a fellow involved with Pacific and specifically the Schwinn
product line, a Paramount will be coming out some time next year.

================

"Bonehenge" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:07:16 -0500, Tom Sherman
> > wrote:
>
>
> >
> >We can only hope that the "Paramount" name never shows up on a piece of
> >crap.
>
> I'm betting it will.
>
> Barry

[Werehatrack]

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:33:02 -0500, "Frank"
> wrote:

>According to a fellow involved with Pacific and specifically the Schwinn
>product line, a Paramount will be coming out some time next year.

And with any luck, it will be every bit as much a Paramount as any
Motobecane on eBay is a real Motobecane. (Otherwise, it will be that
much worse.)
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

[Tom Sherman]

Werehatrack wrote:

> On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:33:02 -0500, "Frank"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>According to a fellow involved with Pacific and specifically the Schwinn
>>product line, a Paramount will be coming out some time next year.
>
>
> And with any luck, it will be every bit as much a Paramount as any
> Motobecane on eBay is a real Motobecane. (Otherwise, it will be that
> much worse.)

And what are the chances it will be made in Waterford, Wisconsin? (About
as likely as Trevor Jeffrey endorsing Jobst Brandt's wheel building
methods, I would say).

--
Tom Sherman

[Werehatrack]

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 11:52:06 -0500, Tom Sherman
> wrote:

>Werehatrack wrote:
>> And with any luck, it will be every bit as much a Paramount as any
>> Motobecane on eBay is a real Motobecane. (Otherwise, it will be that
>> much worse.)
>
>And what are the chances it will be made in Waterford, Wisconsin? (About
>as likely as Trevor Jeffrey endorsing Jobst Brandt's wheel building
>methods, I would say).

Any bets on how long it will be until the old Schwinn plant is
renovated for a trendy entertainment complex and boutique shopping
mall? That seems to be the final fate of a lot of historic enterprise
locations these days.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

[[email protected]]

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:31:12 GMT, Werehatrack
> wrote:

[snip]

>Any bets on how long it will be until the old Schwinn plant is
>renovated for a trendy entertainment complex and boutique shopping
>mall? That seems to be the final fate of a lot of historic enterprise
>locations these days.

Dear Werehatrack,

Historic enterprise locations?

Carl Fogel

[Marcus Coles]

wrote:

> On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:31:12 GMT, Werehatrack
> > wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>
>>Any bets on how long it will be until the old Schwinn plant is
>>renovated for a trendy entertainment complex and boutique shopping
>>mall? That seems to be the final fate of a lot of historic enterprise
>>locations these days.
>
>
> Dear Werehatrack,
>
> Historic enterprise locations?
>
> Carl Fogel


Dear Carl,

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Berman and Bragga and the
timeline.


Marcus Coles
London, ON
Where the shopping mall _is_ an historic enterprise location.

[[email protected]]

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 18:24:39 -0400, Marcus Coles
> wrote:

wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:31:12 GMT, Werehatrack
>> > wrote:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>
>>>Any bets on how long it will be until the old Schwinn plant is
>>>renovated for a trendy entertainment complex and boutique shopping
>>>mall? That seems to be the final fate of a lot of historic enterprise
>>>locations these days.
>>
>>
>> Dear Werehatrack,
>>
>> Historic enterprise locations?
>>
>> Carl Fogel
>
>
>Dear Carl,
>
>I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Berman and Bragga and the
>timeline.
>
>
>Marcus Coles
>London, ON
>Where the shopping mall _is_ an historic enterprise location.

Dear Marcus,

Here's what I suspect is a historic enterprise location:

http://www.coloradopreservation.org/epp/images/epp_02_03.jpg

I ride past it daily, but didn't realize it for the first
fifteen years. The picture is cramped because otherwise
you'd see that the historic enterprise is located in the
middle of a sand and gravel company's parking lot and was
until recently obscured by a fleet of cement trucks.

Its corrugated metal roof reduces some of its historic
grandeur, but I assume that genuine cattle dung from 1870
can still be found in crevices in the old stone Goodnight
barn.

Here's a more interesting and literary description of
interest to anyone fond of "Lonesome Dove":

http://www.readthewest.com/wommack2004-02.html

It's the Rock Canyon Goodnight barn mentioned near the end
of the article, also known as the old shed to gravel pit
workers.

Philistine Fogel

[Werehatrack]

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 12:02:39 -0600, wrote:

>On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:31:12 GMT, Werehatrack
> wrote:
>
>[snip]
>
>>Any bets on how long it will be until the old Schwinn plant is
>>renovated for a trendy entertainment complex and boutique shopping
>>mall? That seems to be the final fate of a lot of historic enterprise
>>locations these days.
>
>Dear Werehatrack,
>
>Historic enterprise locations?

Places where business was done, and people gainfully employed, for a
long time by respected companies. Places which are now just empty
and/or abandoned buildings, sometimes falling apart. Houston has tons
of them. Until recently, the fashionable way to reduce the overstock
of these sites was to build a sports palace on the land...but we've
run out of teams to heap such wretched excess upon, and we've already
got more starving antique dealers than we need, so I guess they'll
have to find some other way to "reclaim" those locations. (God forbid
they should encourage *manufacturing* to return to them.)
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

[Marcus Coles]

> Dear Marcus,
>
> Here's what I suspect is a historic enterprise location:
>
> http://www.coloradopreservation.org/epp/images/epp_02_03.jpg
>
> I ride past it daily, but didn't realize it for the first
> fifteen years. The picture is cramped because otherwise
> you'd see that the historic enterprise is located in the
> middle of a sand and gravel company's parking lot and was
> until recently obscured by a fleet of cement trucks.
>
> Its corrugated metal roof reduces some of its historic
> grandeur, but I assume that genuine cattle dung from 1870
> can still be found in crevices in the old stone Goodnight
> barn.
>
> Here's a more interesting and literary description of
> interest to anyone fond of "Lonesome Dove":
>
> http://www.readthewest.com/wommack2004-02.html
>
> It's the Rock Canyon Goodnight barn mentioned near the end
> of the article, also known as the old shed to gravel pit
> workers.
>
> Philistine Fogel

Dear Phil,

It's a barn.

Perhaps we all ride by buildings of historic significance regularly.
http://www.recentpast.org/types/shopcenters/

In 50 years will any of the big box stores be worthy of preservation?
How about that steel garden shed?

How about that heavily used, but wonderfully well maintained Fury
Roadmaster? ;-)


Marcus

[kazikmazik]

"Marcus Coles" > wrote in message
...
> wrote:
>
> > On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:31:12 GMT, Werehatrack
> > > wrote:
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> >
> >>Any bets on how long it will be until the old Schwinn plant is
> >>renovated for a trendy entertainment complex and boutique shopping
> >>mall? That seems to be the final fate of a lot of historic enterprise
> >>locations these days.
> >
> >
> > Dear Werehatrack,
> >
> > Historic enterprise locations?
> >
> > Carl Fogel
>
>
> Dear Carl,
>
> I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Berman and Bragga and the
> timeline.
>
>
> Marcus Coles
> London, ON
> Where the shopping mall _is_ an historic enterprise location.

For those who did not understand, he is referring to the UPN TV series, Star
Trek Enterprise, Berman and Bragga who are the writers of last seasons theme
which had to do with changing the timeline because a temporal cold war.
Unfortunately not too many trekkies left.