To say that 2025 has been an incredibly tough year would be a terse yet severe understatement. Between my wife’s illness, her recovery, the new Administration coming to power, the recent government shut down and finally the effects of tariffs, all seem to conspire to work against us, particularly at this time of year when we should be up to our eyeballs in the latest and greatest product coming to market. I know our competitors feel much the same way, each dealing with the vagaries of business as best as they can, but it just seems to be hitting home at a time when we have to evaluate the world in which we play in discreet terms.

But then there’s the intangibles to consider. Earlier this month, Hornby USA shuttered its doors, all in an effort to consolidate its business and reduce costs. If you aren’t familiar with Hornby, they’re the blokes that sold us all sorts of Corgi merchandise, from 007-inspired motorcycles and copters to the complete Aviation Archives collection. Some lines we never carried, such as Wallace and Grommet kid-oriented products that has/had a devoted following over in Europe to the Thunderbirds puppet-based line of high-tech conveyances. Now I don’t know about you, but the Thunderbirds first appeared on television way back in the sixties when I used to watch it, so the license is a bit long-in-the-tooth for my taste. I’m sure it sold well, but I prefer something a little more current, such as Top Gun models or Star Trek starships, which help to define our industry to both old timers and newcomers alike.

Which leads me to the point of this post. Hornby decided to break up the distribution of its many US lines as a means of remaining in vogue with North American collectors. Unfortunately, this has led to several problems, most notably both pricing and pack sizes. While there’s no way of getting around the tariff situation unless the Supreme Court decides to put the kibash on the Trump-imposed taxes which many feel will occur in 2026, we’ve had to increase prices across-the-board to adhere to the latest bump up in MAP changes. But we’ve also noticed that the discounts we once received from Hornby have vanished and, along with it, an eye-popping increase in pack sizes. Whereas we were once able to purchase smaller aircraft in four-packs, we’ve now witnessed a threefold increase in some of the very same models, such as their Spitfires or World War I fliers. In one instance, their upcoming Stuka dive-bomber can only be obtained if we purchase in 36-piece lots, which is far in excess of what we feel we need in a standard business cycle. I’m not certain why they cannot be broken down further into smaller lots or re-packaged to accommodate the typical US re-seller beset by higher-priced merchandise. Now, the odd thing here is that the upcoming Me-410 destroyer can be obtained in single-serving packs, which makes the Stuka buy all the more problematic if we plan to continue stocking the line in 2026 and beyond.

To sum up, we cannot bring in some of their newest merchandise unless the pack counts decrease dramatically. While some dealers can no doubt handle these larger buys and tie up dollars for extended periods of time, we’ve decided to make camp along the banks of the Rubicon and wait it out until something is worked out between Hornby and our US distributor to make it worthwhile selling their products. Right now, something smells foul, and it isn’t my wife’s cooking.

Takeaway: While times are tough, manufacturers and distributors need to explore ways to make it as convenient as possible for dealers to sell their products before the clock strikes twelve and the coach in which we’ve rode in and reveled about reverts to an ordinary pumpkin. The mice have spoken…