I heard Harold told a couple of different people they were closing and Green Valley said they would not be receiving anymore Walker blanks…
Yep. Sad but true.
A sad day, When the Clark thing went down I had someone call me at the factory and wanted to put up heaps of money to ramp production up to cover the hole that Clark was going to leave. I told the guy no and he could not believe that I turned him down. I had a feeling that it was the wrong thing to do and Walker closing has back my thinking. I did come over to help Scott at Justfoam for a few days and now it looks like that was the correct thing to do. After his fire he’s back on track making good foam, Good luck to you all for the newyear
Peter
It’s a bummer for us because of our special relationship through Gary Linden and because Walker was making us foam we couldn’t get anywhere else (yet).
I think Harold was just over it. Given the choice I rather spend the day on the beach than in a factory in Wilmington around toxic fumes. I don’t think the decision was due to economic reasons. Walker has been blowing foam for a long time.
There’s so much foam out there now… and shapers have opened their eyes to PU alternatives… that life won’t come to an end for the rest of us.
peter, dont you have empire foam factory in shenzen also?
Quote:
I heard Harold told a couple of different people they were closing and Green Valley said they would not be receiving anymore Walker blanks…
There’s no rumor or guessing about this. Harold called everybody and told them he was closing. I got this from Ice Nine who I’m doing stuff with and it’s a definite.
These are both challenging and exciting years for the blank industry. The playing field is wide open…
It’s pretty sad because when the were playing with the formula making some changes Joe made some shortboard blanks that shaped out unreal and glassed really light. A few orders later and the formula was lost? Joe had switched supply locations and the good formula was losted. Once they had it pinned down if they could have just kept it there. After that it was shrinking foam issues and the quality just went down hill from there. By then it was just too late.
ding…
Yes it’s sad, most the people in our industry are good sincere people. But business is competitive, esp. in the wake of the ‘giant’ closing his doors and everyone else scrambling for a piece of the pie. I guess I feel it less than some folks, because I’m out there vying for a piece of the pie to do what I love. We all have challenges…at least I’d prefer to be challenged in this than some boring, repetitive, mindless j-o-b-s…there are plenty of them out there for $10/hr.
It was predicted that there would be start ups and collapses in the wake of Clark’s closure, and there are people that have plunked down a fair bit of change to setup their blank businesses. Then you have unforseen events like a fire for one business owner…now there’s a hard challenge to overcome.
At this point all bets are off and as shapers, we have to weed through the available foams to see what works for each of us. Some operations want the foam that machines the best, others are looking for easy to shape foams, some are studying flexural characteristics of each foam. It’s not fun to shape up and glass a new foam only to have a delam bubble form from a stringer glue up or some other inconsistency. I think there are quite a few people that have come to the realization that blowing foam isn’t quite the no brainer they thought it to be.
Well said!
Walker closed because he was losing clients. He lost both Takayama accounts, was losing part of Weber, all of Noll & Byrne and much of Japan too. Crooked stringers, incorrect rockers, heavy foam and deliveries that sometimes were over 2 months late (delivered in partials on a semi weekly basis). No one can survive with business like that. It was only economic reasons which caused him to shut down. Joe was still trying to put some financing together and Harold took the phone from him and said, “We are through, finished.” It should now be interesting to see what happens with the rest of the field, quality foam, good rockers & stringer work and good service is going to beat hot air and promises. IMHO… We’ll see by the end of 2008.
Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year. Good shaping and laminating, let’s keep it in the USA!!!
Bimini,
Everytime I read one of your posts it’s self promoting. Why don’t you just run an ad on Sways? Were all on here to share ideas not promote our business. I listened to you at the Surfboard show and same thing. Do us all a favor run and add and let us use Swaylocks to share concepts, ideas etc. Please!!!
well said
Yea the guy’s so transparent! I like Harold Walker let his decision lie and don’t be so critical of him. You know if Binimi’s factory was in Mexico his last comment would be “Viva Pancho Villa” or in Thailand “Praise the King” etc…!
I am suprised that I have heard NO rumours of a competitor attempting to buy Walkers molds or factory.
I see it as a string of poor business decisions and the competition from start-ups. Walkers foam could have been franchised to other countries even during the Clark reign, in the same manner Bennet, Surfblanks and Burford have done. That would have made him a little money over the lean Clark years. The deal with China was obviously full of loop holes. The potential for a “back-stab” was self evident. He had a fair product and should have stuck with it while developing other formulas. The competition from US Blanks and the Aussies(not to mention their franchises, SurfblanksUS, KingMac) flooded the market and brought prices down. Just Foam and Ice-9 may produce a solid product, but they really are a small piece of the “pie” so far. I have wondered who would be the first to go. I expect at least one more company will fall in '08. Walkers poor customer service, website etc made his company particularly vulnerable to an early shake out. Factor in that this opportunity came to him late in his working life and there you have it. Like Clark, he probably just ran out of gas and decided now was the time. Hope he does something a little more relaxed. Maybe he could buy a sheep ranch( a small one).
Well unless you are in New Zealand or Austrailia I don’t think the sheep ranch is a good idea. He would fare far better with Alpaca, who happen to be more than worth their weight in gold.
They and llamas are the pack animal of choice these days.
Ya know, it just goes back to developing a viable business model and learnning to live with it, much less be happy with it. These are challenging times for some while golden opportunity times for others. Look at what is happening in Russia; you would think since the fall of the curtain and the disbanding of the USSR that people would be in a quandry…struggling may be true for many, yet Moscow has replaced London, Paris and New York as the most expensive city to live in worldwide. Yet there were over 100,000 new millionaires last year in Russia.
It is said that today offers more opportunity than ever before. If you can think out of the box, you stand to make huge gains. We only limit ourselves by incorporating “never” and “only” in our vocabularies. This doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges…but it does mean they are viewed as challenges versus insurmountable obstacles. What did mom say “can’t never did anything”?
It’s a new year, best to get on with it!
Quote:
Bimini,
Everytime I read one of your posts it’s self promoting. Why don’t you just run an ad on Sways? Were all on here to share ideas not promote our business. I listened to you at the Surfboard show and same thing. Do us all a favor run and add and let us use Swaylocks to share concepts, ideas etc. Please!!!
i’m curious, who is Bimini? why is he so angry and what is he promoting?
i’ve used walker blanks since he reopened in 91 or so and i was a satisfied and loyal customer. any reasonable person that dealt with harold on a regular bases would consider him a gentleman who is passionate about the industry. harold has contributed a lot to surfing and i wish him a happy retirement.
gene
Just Foam
got it. thanks
Anytime! Any waves in Ox today?