Iconic toy brand set to disappear after 75 years as it launches closing down sale
An iconic toy brand is set to disappear after 88 years because of spiralling costs.
Model steam train makers Mamod has closed its factory in Smethwick, Birmingham after being crippled by rising rents imposed by the landlord.
All of the company's eight employees, two of which have been with the firm for two decades, have also lost their job in the process.
An auction of its model toys was launched over the weekend with the company making a whopping £35,000 from selling off stock.
Products on its online website are now completely sold out as fans have rushed to buy stock.
Mamod had no physical stores only a factory and online retail site.
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Adrian Lockrey, works director, at Mamod, told The Sun, a cocktail of decreasing amounts of engineering in the UK and rising rents led to its demise.
He said: "The major problem for ourselves was with the landlord doubling the rent and asking for us to sign a full repair lease in which we would be liable for the last 30 years of faults and damage to the building which they should have been fixing all this time, has essentially forced us out.
"And with the lack of availability and affordable industrials units in the Birmingham area outside of the clean air zone has forced us to close down as no employee can be expected to travel miles away to a new location.’
The news has come as a blow to many who grew up before the turn of the century, with the toy trains being a common Christmas present between the 1950s-90s.
Fans of the brand have taken to social media to share their heartbreak at the news of the closure.
One user wrote: "I am 52 and had wanted a Mamod my whole life. A couple of years ago I splashed out and bought track and an engine and felt guilty for spending the money.
"Seems like it was a good job that I did. So sorry for all those who worked there."
Another said: "Very Sad, the end of an era - Best wishes to everybody that used to work there."
At its peak the company sold over one million units across a 10 year period.
The toys were quite pricey, costing nearly £1,000, but were highly sought after by adults and children.
Issues at Mamod began earlier this year when the Government implemented a new law in which Hexamine based products could not be distributed within the UK without possessing a license.
The substance was recently outlawed because it can be used to make explosives, but it is commonly found in model trains.
The company spent a large amount of money on research and development to overcome this issue and develop new fuel alternatives which eventually used up all of its spare cash,
Lockrey said they tried to resolve this after many conversations with the Government Home Office, Local MPs and the Counter Terrorism task force.
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun's business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open. In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
Boss Stuart Machin recently said that when it relocated a tired store in Chesterfield to a new big store in a retail park half a mile away, its sales in the area rose by 103 per cent.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Wilko, Debenhams Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Paperchase to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
"Eventually we came to a dead end when they would not respond or try to resolve this matter in any manor," he added.
What is happening to the British high street?
The news comes amid a challenging time for the whole of the UK’s retail sector.
High inflation coupled with a squeeze on consumers' finances has meant people have less money to spend in the shops.
Also the rising popularity in online shopping has meant people are favouring digital ordering over visiting a physical store.
Unseasonably wet weather has also deterred shoppers from hitting the high street.
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This ongoing issue has seen brands such as Paperchase, andThe Body Shop.