Woodstock Soapstone shows all stoves sold out for 2026 on website

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John Lehet

Feeling the Heat
Hearth Supporter
Nov 9, 2013
302
Vermont
I don’t know what this means. I looked to see if they had Progress catalysts in stock, was surprised the stove is apparently not for sale. None of the other stoves are either.
 
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There's a post on their bulletin board:

"The Woodstock Soapstone Company factory & showroom will be closed for a two-week summer vacation staring Monday, July 13th through Sunday, July 26th. Woodstock Soapstone will reopen at 9:00 AM on Monday, July 27th. Unless already scheduled, we will not be able to send or receive stoves or parts orders during this time."

Maybe they turned off adding products to the shopping cart on their website. Hopefully it's not a sign of something more ominous.
 
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I didn’t see that. Probably explains it! The “Sold Out” is probably either a poorly considered choice, or it may be a lack of flexibility in how the site is managed.
 
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Probably changed their inventory to zero so nothing will get sold. It might be a good time for them to actually take inventory and get a solid number.
 
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Yeah I don’t recall ever seeing Woodstock announce a 2 week vacation for all employees, it’s concerning. You would think with all the problems they have had it would be all hands on deck before the busy season starts.
 
Summer vacation shutdown is not all that uncommon for small companies
 
I don’t know what kind of climate control they have in their factory, but the heat has been brutal in this area. Recently our daytime temperatures have only been a degree or two behind, and sometimes above, areas far to our south. In northern New England, air conditioning isn’t as common or specced as robustly as it is to our south. Like Europe, we aren’t expecting it. Even if they have some air conditioning in the factory, it might not suffice. (My car is like that, AC is fine below 90F). Might have been pretty hot to work in that metal building, and a taking a break a good idea. But I have no idea of course.
 
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The current state of the website seems like something bigger than their usual disorganization to me. I would think that losing the energy efficiency tax credit at the end of the 2025 along with the moderate price increases across the board at Woodstock would have caused a slowdown in sales, but everything being sold out/unavailable gives the impression that things are booming, which I don't really believe.

There are a handful of legitimate things that I could see tanking a company like Woodstock from the disastrous economic relationships between the US/Europe to internal staffing challenges. I keep hoping they figure things out, but there hasn't been much reason for optimism over the last two years.
 
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If they’re still not accepting orders they’re cooked. That’s over 3 months without the production line running. Their skilled employees are most likely hourly. They can’t go that long without a paycheck. Unemployment insurance would help, but they’d have to move on. Overhead keeps accumulating, warehouse rent, payments on equipment, insurance payments, etc. if they’re on land and in a building they own outright that would help, but what are the odds of that?

My question is if they have any intellectual property that someone else would want to buy. Were there any patents another company would be interested in? Google AI suggests there isn’t. VC was able to sell their names many times over.
 
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All other stove companies seem to be working things out with whatever “business climate” they are using for an excuse, seems like mismanagement to me.
 
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The sudden dropping of the tax credit, onerous tarrifs, and EPA inaccessibility are not helping at all. This was the story last fall:

Is there a Woodstock rocker coming in the future?
 
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[Hearth.com] Woodstock Soapstone shows all stoves sold out for 2026 on website


Woodstock rocker!

I’d think that the other companies needing cats would be in the same boat as far as cat cost increases. Same with steel prices. Soapstone is more of a niche product so most stove companies aren’t going to have to deal with that.

I wonder if the direct to customer marketing/sales worked against them here. Since their stoves were not bargain basement/we cut out the middle man priced, they got used to higher profits and increased their spending. When their raw material prices went up, there wasn’t room to absorb or pass on the costs. There also isn’t a middle man/dealer that can take some price shock.

I doubt we’ll ever find out. Other companies, maybe with less sophisticated products seem to be surviving, even thriving.
 
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Also no parts available it seems, at least on the website. At least the ones I checked. My stove is OK for now, but eventually it will need at least a new catalyst. No doubt there are people out there heading into a new season who do need a new cat.

I did see someone on Reddit not too long ago posting about a new Progress install.
 
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Last I heard was the owner was going to post a blog on Woodstock’s situation but that was a while back. I hope they pull through all this.
 
Last I heard was the owner was going to post a blog on Woodstock’s situation but that was a while back. I hope they pull through all this.
I've been periodically checking for this update, but so far none forthcoming.
 
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Since I have more than a casual interest in Woodstock stoves, owning a Progress, I did a drive by. The company is maybe 1/4 mile up the hill from my weekly Friday errand route.
I couldn’t see whether the sign in the window said Open or Closed, but there were what seemed like a normal number of cars and trucks in their lot. Some people are doing some things there, even if the web site is a black box.
 
That’s good news! Hopefully they pull out of whatever is happening!
 
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New stove production and delivery schedules have been updated on the website, with most stoves indicating a Nov/Dec 26 shipping window. Cats are still backordered, but there are signs of life at Woodstock!

The website update linked below is indicating issues with EPA certs but maybe it's a good thing to crap-can some models in favor of what seem to be the more popular stoves and streamline operations.

Woodstock Production Update Post