As posted on HyperScale:
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy filed.
Court Texas Northern Bankruptcy Court
Case number 3:2021bk30105
Assets $500,001 to $1 million
Liabilities $10,000,001 to $50 million
Judge Michelle V. Larson
Chapter 7 Filed Jan 19, 2021
Type voluntary
Updated Jan 20, 2021
If anyone has a deposit or pre-purchase outstanding, good toime to write them a letter for the record.
Bill
That should be a good write off for the parent investment company.
50:1 Liability to Assets? WOW! What did they owe on? they never had any inventory unless they bought tons of those blankets, toys, and coffee mugs they were peddling.
OUCH! Im gonna guess bad investments, taking loans against the company? That is terrible that another old time business goes belly up.
So… lets say someone hypothetically (def not me) blew a hundred bucks on that ‘big winter sale’ they had, and your order never shipped… does anyone know who you’d go about getting that money back?
You can file a claim with whatever entity is appointed receiver for the bankruptcy.
Yeah…good luck with that! (If you paid with a credit card, there might be some sort of relief available that way. Contact you card’s customer service.)
Write a letter to the Court listed in the op here, with all the particulars and request to be a creditor.
There are layers to it.
As soon as using a lawyer becomes necessary, it won’t be worth it.
Squadron may have you listed on their filing, if so that will help a lot.
If you are on Facebook, try their page to see if there’s any info.
i would write them a letter spelling out what they owe you, send it to their address and then keep your fingers crossed.
They might even reopen at some point.
GM has a point. When my lady and her ex sent money to an outfit to get released from a timeshare, the outfit filed bankruptcy in short order. We kept getting updates on court appearances, just getting approval for lawyer fees. Looks like the settlement will get them out, but nothing back on what $ spent on the outfit that went under. The lawyers got all of it and then some.
I worked for over 20 years at a company that went bankrupt and I know the only way to recover from that is through a claim with the courts. Then you go on a long list of creditors with “secured” debt holders vs. “unsecured” The only chance the average Joe has is very slim to recover anything. Banks and lawyers are at the top of the list for getting paid first.
I filed a claim for over $20 grand (severence, vacation, sick time and other lost beneifts) against my former employer and at the end of it got a check for just over $300 and letter telling me there there was no more - all assets had been sold and they were still in the hole for over 10 million.
This is all very sad as I was shopping at Squadron long before I even heard of Sprue Bros.
It’s such shame that companies like this have to go through this at this time of crisis. I have ordered from them in the past. Places like this are dwindling, but I am glad to keep my LHS in business by ordering from them. I went through a bankruptcy when the company I was working for in the late 90’s. Each day I wondered if my badge would work to let me in, and then at the end of each day I worried about whether the hammer would come down on my job. Fortunatly things worked out. I only hope that those employees have the same luck and that Squadron comes out of this stronger that before.
Currently on the bench:
Revell SR71 1/72
Academy B52H 1/144
You got lucky, Jim! I had a company I was working for go bankrupt out from under me, owing me ~$4000 in back wages. I got nothing! Had an oil company I was invested in fall over, and while I wasn’t expecting anything from it, I did get entertainment reading all the proceedings documentation they sent me. I probably got my investment back in the postage they spent mailing me all the pounds of documents over the years. Yes, it lasted years. As I figured, I got nothing.
Like you, I used Squadron when they were about the only mail-order place out there. Long before the internet, when you’d get a catalog in the mail and order from that. [*-)]
Sad to see them go, but I was getting frustrateed seeing something in their catalog mailers only to go online to find it out of stock.
I did love getting those catalogs every month and it never failed that I could find something on sale I wanted, That is, back before their decline.
I had saved a pile of those catalogs but eventually tossed them out. Now I wished I had saved them!
I saved all those annual catalogs from the years in the 80s and 90s that I got them. They are a great source of (semi useless) historical information on the kit. When it first appeared, how much it was, etc.
Every once I a while I see the one of the old monthly flyers that hadn’t gotten tossed decades ago. The later ones that were full color, I know I have a pile of them on my desk in the basement.
I also tell posters we should never complain about kit prices,but it is cool to see those kit prices from the early 80’s like the Tamiya armor,but really,everything has gone up
I remember browsing the old Sears Catalogs too,quite a perspective
Speaking of old Sears catalogs, remember the craftsman cottage home kits? Now you can’t buy a suite of kitchen appliances for what the whole house cost, delivered.
Just got an email send under the FSM name announcing the MMD/Squadron Bankruptcy Auction. $400K of ‘cost inventory’ Hobby Boss kits, Intellectual Property, Warehouse Equipment, Packing Equipment, Office Equipment, and Office Furniture.
Perhaps the 400K of Hobby Boss kits were enroute when the doors closed? No info on other stock.
Inspection is 21-April, Bids 23-April, Removal 26-28 April. Hmmm, I may drive across town on the 21st to see if there are any lots worth bidding on
Just got it too… Funny thing they specifically mention Hobby Boss, huh? On the photo there is also a funny looking P-47 - not from Hobby Boss.
Overall it looks pretty sad… They literally sell everything there was.
A buddy who lives in the neighborhood reports that there is a container trailer parked at the warehouse loading dock door. It was not there last week. Gives credence to my assumption that the HB shipment was enroute when the plug was pulled
I wonder what “Intellectual Property” they will be auctioning?[:^)]