woodworkers warehouse

[Joe]

I just attempted to connect to their website.............is it true, they filed chapter 11?

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

From their site:

"Woodworkers Warehouse, Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and will be holding a "Going Out of Business" sale in its stores."

I know Woodcraft is killing them in Manchester, CT. The stores are across the street from one another and I could see no good reason to go to WW Warehouse. Competition from Tool Crib, Tools-Plus, Utterguys, etc... on a price only basis, would put them in a tough spot.

Woodcraft seems to have figured out that a well stocked store and a helpful staff = retail success. You can't sell what you don't have, if I have to order it, I might as well have it shipped to my home from a web vendor. The local WW Warehouses didn't have half as good a staff as Woodcraft, and ZERO good hand tools. Our local Woodcraft carries the entire Woodcraft catalog in addition to more finishing products, and the more desirable Veritas and Lee Valley items.

Barry

[P©WÉ®T©©LMAN]

Woodworkers Warehouse, Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and will be holding a "Going Out of Business" sale in its stores.

[Toller]

Chapter 11 is reorganization. Presumably they are just clearing out some old junk and closing a few of their worst stores. I wouldn't expect many great bargains to come from their sale.

[Mike CBR929rr]

from their site: "Woodworkers Warehouse, Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and will be holding a "Going Out of Business" sale in its stores."

I think it says it all....

[David Babcock]

Remember chapter 11 allows the investors to dump unprofitable/underperforming stores, sell of old inventory at below cost. So my advice is save any $$$'s you get for Christmas and buy while the iron is hot.

Dave

[RKON]

I was at the Manchester Wood Craft this afternoon ordering my new Delta Planer ( what a great deal) and I had commented to the guy how busy it was. Another gentleman in line commented that Wood Workers Warehouse had closed the doors across the street. Appaently WWW Inc owes Delta $20 Mil. as well as others and could not keep up with inventory and such. The guy also mentioned that the same company got into trouble because of another business Gold World or something like that. I think it is too bad because the competition is healthy. But hell, they never had good prices. Between wood Craft and Coastal Tools I did not need to go there.

Rich

[Nova]

I thought they already did that years ago after they bombed with "Golf World".

We used to have 4 or 5 stores in my area. After the last shakeout they closed all the company owned stores and only one franchised store remained.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

[David Babcock]

We have (had) a store in our area and it might as well have been closed. When you walk through the door it took five minutes for anyone to know you were there. Usually one guy working alone, looking lost and confused. I stopped going in.........but I'll be the first in line for the "Going out of Business" sale.....oh yeah! (Mumbling) Let's see, move this pile of junk, where the jointer will go. Shove this out of the way for the new planner...........yeah.

Dave

[Rrniemiec]

Well, partly true. I'm an insolvency lawyer, and kept an eye on this company for a little bit. WWW is privately held, was itself a product of the Trendlines chapter 11 filing of a couple of years ago (when the company dumped its golf stores). In a chapter 11 reorg, the company can indeed reject leases for lousy stores, but frankly any business can sell inventory for below cost. What is going to happen here is one of three things: either the company has a plan to skinny itself down to best stores (and has convinced its lenders to finance the company post confirmation of its plan of reorganization; or the secured creditors feel they can best recover their debt through a sale of the company's best locations and assets (including inventory), which will be sold free of all creditor's liens via a bankruptcy court supervised auction (known in the trade as a Section 363 sale) and the rest liquidated, or if a 363 buyer cannot be found at a price higher than the secured creditor's view of the liquidation value of the assets, the case will be converted to a chapter 7 liquidation. Inventory is generally liened up by secured creditors, and since some of this stuff is pretty good inventory, the good stuff is going to be skimmed off by wholesale concerns, so don't start having dreams of getting a unisaw for $500. Its possible the existing management might have lined up some financing for a smaller company and will put together a group to buy the cherry store locations and inventory. If not, then its liquidation. I will check the online docket monday and see what is going on in Bankruptcy Court and let everyone know.

[Charlie Self]

rrniemiec responds:

snip of accurate stuff

Man, oh man. You are really lousing up some juicy speculation. Facts always cause problems in such cases.

Charlie Self

"I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it." George Carlin

[Howard Ruttan]

I gotta get off this friggin computer and get into the shop today (must be the snowstorm)....

We had 2 Woodworker's Warehouse stores in my area and nobody else even wanted to open a store here. I even went so far as to contact that guy from Woodcraft franchise development and their answer was that no woodworkers live where I live. Thus I have bought a total of $25 worth of stuff from Woodcraft, period. And, I'll try anywhere else before them. Aside from that brief rant, WWW sure didn't need Woodcraft to help them go out of business here. They did it all by themselves, and if you ever visited either of those stores, you would not wonder why. Everyone who entered came out emptyhanded.

Epilogue: they finally opened a Woodcraft an hour from here in Delaware. Maybe I'll finally have a look. Maybe. Till then, as always, Robin Lee - you can have all my money!

[Tom Kohlman]

Charlie...are you a cynic???

...just wondered...

[Lee Gordon]

And Coastal Tool is just a few miles away on the other side of the river. They almost always beat WW on price.

Lee

[Lee Gordon]

Rich ...

Besides Woodworkers Warehouse stores, the parent company (Trendlines) also owned the chain of Golf Day stores which they closed down a couple of years ago.

Lee

[Ray]

Newspaper article about chapter 11

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

Don't forget Tools-Plus in Waterbury, the only General dealer in CT. They also have a lot of big iron, in some cases REALLY big iron, assembled and available for fingering. I've only been there twice, but the folks who work there are pleasant to deal with.

I don't mind paying a bit more for good help and service, which I get at the Manchester Woodcraft. With Bob and the school right there, they actually USE tools. I have never gotten any kind of service from WW Warehouse that kept me from seeking the lowest price.

Barry

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

The Manchester store does so well I _really_ wish I had a piece of it.

The attached school draws such talent as Mario Roderiguez , Garrett Hack, Terry Masrachi , and folks from North Bennett St. School as guest instructors.

Barry

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

Our local stores have nothing to buy!

That's one of the problems.

Barry

[RKON]

Have you ever taken any classes at Manchester Woodcraft? I signed my newbie ass up to their Wood Working 1 class. After reading about all of the accidents and near misses on the wreck I thought it would be prudent learn how to use these tools the proper way.

Rich