Tough Times In The Stove Business - VC Shutting Down Until The End Of March

[webbie]

, and we as consumers will have to end it.but until the average joe's have enough confidence they wont get fleeced again , its gonna be a bumpy road.

Yeah, we need confidence AND money!

Funny thing is that high end premium products have been the leaders (sales wise) in the industry for most of the last decade or more. The reason is because people burning wood were doing it for recreation and so-called "cocooning".....remember Faith Popcorn? She was the reader of tea-leaves....trends. She said the next big phase was that people were going to spend a lot of time at home, and any products that were based on this would succeed. So she was right - big screen TV's, enameled VCs, $5,000 FPX fireplaces, etc.

But now we have a different story.......just this year really. The air has been let out of the balloon for many people, and although they would like an enameled stove, they will settle for black...or for a century, englander, used stove.....or whatever. They just need to save heat!

So it is good and bad (as usual). On one hand we have wood burning popular again for HEAT and saving money. On the other hand, people have no money so they are not buying the deluxe products.

VC has, as most of us know, other problems. The brand was used, abused and "sold out" by certain executive....who are no longer working there, but the repercussions are still with the company. The new folks are probably very decent, but they don't know what hit them. They are, in effect, paying the price for sins of the past.

One thing for sure. As the old President of Commodore computers used to say "Business is War". Despite always trying to be the nice guy, I can confirm that all in all it is brutal over the long run.....or at least unforgiving! You can do everything right, and then fate or one big mistake can turn it all against you.

 

[tkirk22]

Vermont Castings will be a case study in business school marketing/management books in 10 years or so. By that time someone will have bought the company at "auction", the buyer will dismantle the company, sell the parts, and the molds will then be sent to china.

I don't like it either and I hope my crystal ball is wrong.

 

[webbie]

Actually, the whole thing started with ONE mistake. The purchase of Dutchwest. I have a podcast discussion with Stephen Morris (their old sales manager) about that, but I still have to edit it. We had a good discussion but it was amazing how little he knew - even though he was a top dog. They literally told him one morning that they had bought Dutchwest!

The founder then walked out with $1 and that was the end of the vision. It was like Apple without Steve Jobs, etc. - People sometimes think that medium or large companies run themselves, but often they are still the vision of one or two people. Take them out of the equation and the dream dies.

It is a very interesting study. Maybe I can write the book (with help, of course).
If folks want to learn something more, see:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/W._Mitchell/
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Category:History::Vermont_Castings/
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Category:History::Vermont_Castings:People/

 

[begreen]

It won't be the first time a great product gets lost in the shuffle. I have a fond personal affinity for the original VC products. They were strong, stout heaters. This whole thing reminds me of how another product, one of the best graphic computers of the time, the Amiga, got driven into the ground by incompetent board members. But greed is good, right?

 

[KWillets]

To counter the doom and gloom, the NY Times had another stove-related article today, about getting away from it all in a cabin in the woods:

<blockquote>
The star of the weekend, though, was to be a little black box about the size of two milk crates: the wood-burning stove, which awaited us ice-cold and empty in the middle of the kitchen area.
</blockquote>

This, I suppose, is what they call "Lifestyle Marketing", where the whole experience is what they're buying. You'll never guess what brand the stove is (check the photos).

 

[jpl1nh]

I think the question of what's wrong with the economy is quite complicated. Today's markets are all global and there are many people deperate for a job in this world who are happy to do it at a fraction of the compensation we've come to expect. I think that will pressure the US economy for years to come. Economies certainly work in cycles and we've been pretty far up over the last decade, especially in the housing market. Those creative financing deals and lax regulation have allowed real estate prices to reach un-realistic values. For many, their home is their greatest asset and as long as the value was going up many just borrowed against it to support a life style that was actually beyond their means. Then you throw in rapidly rising energy prices which seem destined to remain that way or rise even further and the mix starts looking pretty shaky. The excess is starting to get squeezed out now and for many it will be painful. For some, devastating. I looked at VCr products and as much as I liked them, didn't perceive value from all the negative product comments I've heard. It's hard to be prosperous selling what's perceived as a crappy high end product, especially if you are starting into a down economic cycle. If dollars are a concern and you need heat, from what I've read here I perceive Englander is the way to go. I perceive high end value as Woodstock and Jotul. Don't mean to slight others like PE, Quadra-fire etc, but I'm sorry VC? nope. Think they are in a tough place.