"Goodbye Squadron" Topic

After 53 years, Squadron has closed. The website says closed for renovation, but industry sources indicate that the company is done and all staff have been laid off.

No idea what will happen to their remaining stock or, more importantly, their Squadron branded product lines. I would expect that if nobody buys up and resurrects the latter as a whole, someone will at least purchase the rights to their extensive publishing catalogue.

Noooooooooooooo………………………

Very sad news indeed.

This is horrible news.

i remember going to the Squadron Shop in Madison Heights, Michigan. Before they really grew the Squadron brand and moved out of state.
Good memories. Great store. They don't make them like that anymore.

This is horrible news.

It's very sad, but it's important to note it's not indicative of impending doom in the hobby world. Long story short, Squadron's legendary service and extensive stock had taken a nosedive over the last few years. Customers fled due to incomplete or massively delayed orders. I never had that issue, but I rarely ordered anything in the last three years because anything I wanted was out of stock.

Apparently the investors who owned the company kept a lot of cash flowing to the business, but unfortunately retained a CEO who a) had no experience or interest in the hobby business and b) didn't want to listen to people who did.

I did not take it as such, they were such a great resource for books, models and all sorts of hobby items. I spent a great deal of money buying products from them over the years. I just hate to see established companies who had a great deal of useful resources go under.

The last 3-4 years their offerings and service were on the decline. They generally didn't have a good deal of stock and their customer service wasn't up to par. I switched to Sprue Brothers a few years ago and have been quite happy with their selection, prices and shipping.

That's a great shame. I'd always go to their annual open day here in Dallas and come home with a car-load of bargains.
I took advantage of their last sale, just a few days ago, and was lucky enough to receive (my late Christmas present to myself) order. Appears a lot of didn't get their's fulfilled.

Haven't heard of Sprue Brothers. I'll have to check them out.

I think my last mailing was several months ago. Remember getting things from them in the 70's

They supported many of my hobby needs over the years – Thanks

I used to buy a lot from them in the past. But more recently their prices tended to not be very competitive. I only bought from them when they had a good sale. There were other sources (like Spruebrothers) that had better prices & service. Capitalism in action.

Damon.

I have been ordering from them for decades. Just not in the last few years. No 1/72 figs any longer. Prices increased. Stock seemed to be low when I did look to buy something. They were great. But not lately. They didn't seem to embrace online selling right away. That didn't help.

Sad to see the decline and fall.

Was Jerry Campbell, the founder, still involved at the end?

Tom

I do not believe so. It was sold several years ago.

As someone who has ordered from Squadron for decades and looks forward to their annual book sale, this is sad news indeed, although you could tell things were going downhill the last few years. The sales almost every other day,, endless email notices, etc., were certainly clues that things weren't going well.

To my thinking, the hobby simply got too advanced for its own good. By that I mean the days of going to the local hobby store or mail ordering from Squadron to get a $10 USD Monogram F-86 have been long gone. Changing demographics, too many entertainment options, etc., meant that the hobby had to rely on modelers who wanted to spend $100 USD-200 on a model, $25 USD-50 on books and decals, and $50 USD-200 on resin and/or brass etched accessories. There simply aren't enough of those hobbyists around anymore.

There are plenty of mail-order stores that are able to cater to the current model building demographic. I order from Spruebothers frequently, both for kits & aftermarket. Squadron had dabbled in aftermarket long before aftermarket became a big segment of the hobby, so I don't buy the idea that the hobby became too sophisticated for Squadron. They were there when it started to diversify.

But other vendors manage to do it & survive. IMHO the problem Squadron had was that it failed to innovate & stay competitive. The fact that the upper leadership had little interest or knowledge about the hobby industry is also telling. In many ways it parallels the old days of TSR, after Gary was forced out; the company was lead by someone that had little interest or knowledge of the RPG market & TSR suffered badly because of it.

Damon.

I have been a customer of "The Hobby Shop In Your Mailbox" since 1975. I did notice their inventory was not being refreshed. I truly loved their old magazine/catalog with the modeling tips and reviews. One can only hope they manage to pull a rabbit out of the hat and stay a running business.

Jef, a former employee of Squadron & someone that showed up in their monthly fliers, posted a video that had a few things to say about what happened with Squadron: link

Damon.

Wow they just sent me a flyer last week to buy…glad I did not.Very sad to see another one go.

Sad. Their catalog was great for flipping through, lots of 1/72 armor I hadn't seen.

Oh, man… that's heartbreaking.

Just read Squadron filed for bankruptcy.

Damon.

Garand, what's the reader's digest version of the 45 minute video?