woodburner wrote:That's got to suck. To go from owning the building, to having to sell it, and then lease part of it back from the new owners. Can't see that as a good idea investment wise.
Well, at least they're still in business.
I guess that depends how much profit they made. Maybe is was a very HEALTHY move. We ALL hope that is the scenario.
You sell a property that you've owned for a number of years here in San Diego and your "Pop..Pop..Sittin' Pretty, All together in Schaffer City" (I will bet you the Northeasterners get this!!)
dlbristol wrote:So you are really saying the SS is becoming a "lean mean wood working machine making company"?!!!:D
We ALL hope SO!:D Well maybe not the MEAN part.
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╟JPG ╢
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
Several of us have been in Shopsmith's plant. It is a huge building. When I was there in November It appeard that they were using less than 30% of the space. With taxes and maintenance this is obviously not a good situation. They could go into the leasing business themselves, but this would be a big distraction.
Selling the building and lease back of a much smaller portion makes good business sense, as it will relieve/reduce their maintenance expenses and free up some working capitol - not a bad idea in today's economic environment.
Yes the building is very large. You have to remember that building had the space to support Shopsmith stores across the country. Now just being mail order the space is not needed. The smaller part they are using now is not small at all. Still a good size.
If the building was fully depreciated, by selling it at it's new (economy induced) lower value, the taxes on the gain (?) will be lower and the new lease payments will be fully deductible. Any accountants out there? Does this make sense to you on a tax basis?
Tim
Buying US made products will help keep YOUR job or retirement funds safer.
cincinnati wrote:Yes the building is very large. You have to remember that building had the space to support Shopsmith stores across the country. Now just being mail order the space is not needed. The smaller part they are using now is not small at all. Still a good size.
It is my understanding that the space was originally 120,000 sq ft and that they now occupy 40,000 sq ft.
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
My wife and I operated our store for over 20 years before we retired from it about 1996 and moved it several times for various reasons. We just kept reinventing it when things would get tough. One observation we made was that each move or change would bring in a new batch of customers that had not known that we existed. We also observed that almost all of our old customers would follow us when we moved. There was also a certain edge to be gained by "starting fresh" at a new location. It forced us to clear out a lot of stored stuff we needed to get rid of and reorganize what we moved.
We started in a very nice 2 story store in town (community of 40,000) and after a couple of years we put up a new house with an about 1400 sq. ft. store building next to it. That required a little streamlining. It was about a mile out of town here on the farm (I always farmed). Our store traffic was almost as good and there were a number of advantages. About then was when I started learning that turning more dollars didn't always equate into more profit or better living and at times the most profitable thing to do was concentrate on cutting cost instead of spending more to increase dollar flow.
One of the worst locations we ever had was in a strip shopping center. We did much better out here on the farm. A time or two we moved to have room for a new enterprise and a couple of times we searched out a new enterprise just because we had excess room.
Another basic observation was that it seldom was a good idea to operate enterprises that didn't make any money.
Sometimes an enterprise would take off and do well but then times would change and it would just peter out. Some just never got off of the ground.
In tough times flexibility is the key to survival and I think that Shopsmith has been fairly flexible and has just kept trying to reinvent themselves.
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farmer
Francis Robinson
I did not equip with Shopsmiths in spite of the setups but because of them.
1 1988 - Mark V 510 (bought new), 4 Poly vee 1 1/8th HP Mark V's, Mark VII, 1 Mark V Mini, 1 Frankensmith, 1 10-ER, 1 Mark V Push-me-Pull-me Drillpress, SS bandsaw, belt sander, jointer, jigsaw, shaper attach, mortising attach, TS-3650 Rigid tablesaw, RAS, 6" long bed jointer, Foley/Belsaw Planer/molder/ripsaw, 1" sander, oscillating spindle/belt sander, Scroll saw, Woodmizer sawmill
I have been waiting since Oct 2008 for table upgrade. Someone called and said SS is having trouble getting parts. Do the new Mark V's still come with a small table? I get emails all the time wanting to sell me a new machine.
Pick up the phone and call Shopsmith. The folks there will be happy to answer your question. On Monday I ordered Planer and Jointer blades. I was told they wer in stock and they arrived early this afternoon. Good folks at shopsmith and they care about the customer. fjimp
F. Jim Parks
Lakewood, Colorado:)
When the love of power is replaced by the power of love the world will have a chance for survival.
Flexibility and lowering the cost will go a long way.
SS cleared all my back orders this past week. It was like someone gave them a jolt. One item had been on back order since June 2008. Periodically you need to check the status.
