Toy News

This just sums up the totally inadequate communication from Youngsters.

To be notified that they are in receivership through Toy News rather than direct communication just sums up the inept management that has caused this to happen in the first place. In the days of e-mail, there is no excuse for such poor communication.

We will see if any of the management can be bothered to show up to the meeting they have called for Friday to introduce us to Toymaster!

My partner works for Youngsters and the first the staff knew about this, officially, was when KPMG staff entered the building at 10 this morning and the announcement was made an hour later.

The fact that staff did not know until 10 is no excuse for management not having sorted out communications to members.

Manager clearly knew this was coming and if they didn't they should have been sacked.

The communications should have been sorted so that members were advised straight away - e-mail is simple and fast....

It was fast enough to let Toy News publish their story 4 minutes after you say staff were told. Clearly Youngsters have got their communication priorities wrong as well

You have to remember there are unfortunatly legal ways of doing these things and shareholders arent seen as the priority. However, unlike other compaines, we arent just shareholders and for most of us this affects far far more than just a shareholding.

Comms are as good as ever, Uncle Bob has in been avoiding calls from members and staff for couple of weeks.I hope he is there on Friday !!

Probably about the time he started working for the Bank instead of Youngsters,wonder if they will pay his March Salary ?

Yeah he can work for the bank... have the perfect suggestion...

NORTHERN ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

i agree with the above no offical comms from youngsters and this is the day after . nosuprise thou because communication was never good was it really.

They were quick enough at communicating with some suppliers to tell them not to send goods - but never told us they were doing this. Instead suppliers were teelling us that this is what they have been told....

I suspect Friday will be the usual waste of time and they will fail to provide any answers or explanation.

It will be interesting to see when they do decide to formally communicate to us what is happening. So far they don't appear willing to do this either, but at least we still get updates on their warehouse clearance lines!......

Bad luck Youngsters! It happened to us too -years ago now. I ve come to the conclusion that the whole concept of Buying Groups being liable for retailers debts and hoping that they will pay at the end of the month, was a flawed one right from the start. The credit crunch has just brought the whole problem to the forefront again by making credit insurance difficult to raise. Toymaster beware!

I dont think its the case of the retailers paying at the end of the month. What is was that Youngsters Put so much into Toy Zone that they were just in huge debt due to this.

Take 20 retail stores, each with a stock holding of at least £65,000. (and if you have been to their stores you will know that this figure is way under-estimated)..... Thats stick holding of 1.3 million.... And all done with pooly managed stores and upper management... it was bound to fall head first!!

Us retaiilers who do all we can to ensure we pay on time and make the business work now haveto struggle to get stock in time for easter and also now battle against suppliers asking us for the payments for the invoices which youngsters have not paid!!

Well put.

The problem is not us retailers, it is Youngsters following a flawed strategy, under poor leadership and supported by poor buying.

As many of the suppliers that we used to deal with through Youngsters are saying to us - we have good credit, Youngsters have bad credit and they want to deal with us direct. It is Youngsters utilising their money (our money we pay them) to compete against us with their chain of stores is the probelm.

Put simply they do not have the management ability or skills to turn around a chain of 20 toy stores and now they have messed it up for all of us....

Difference between Youn gster & Toymaster is simple - how many toy shops do Toymaster run for themselves?

20 'Toyzone' stores? Let us not forget the great 'Toyworld' purchase! - woops should that have been closedown?

Youngsters members joined together today at the Toymaster FOB show, with their newly appointed Solicitor, Ian Grier, and told KPMG that they will not be settling their consolidated debts until an agreement can be reached with Barclays. Members wishing to join can contact Grant McKenzie at Happicraft, Robert Charrington at Papillon or Paul Wohl at Argosy Toys.

The Sale of the Youngsters business and stock to Magson within 3 days of appointment of the receivers strikes me as a bit quick.
There is no way that the best price and therefore the best deal for the creditors has been achieved. I Know of at least 3 other interested parties and 1 seemed very surprised he wasnt at least given an opportunity to bid.

The Magson deal has left everything in the air and to "gag" people who were to present to members their options was total disregard to members and shareholders.

If anyone wants a warehouse for a bargain price there's one in Wallingford, just get in touch with KPMG !!

It is not entirely surprising that this happened so quickly - KPMG would be failing in their role as receivers if they did not have the contacts that could lead to a deal being made with interested parties.

As it is, Mr Wiggum himself admitted he had not returned the call from Magsons, so this deal could have been done earlier so saving us all expense and inconvenience travelling to Swindon.

I commend those members who have formed an action group so quickly and am grateful for the general advice given on Friday. However, I would advise any former Youngsters members to seek legal advice through any trade associations they are members of prior to agreeing any fees with this group, after all the legal cover already paid to organisations such as local Chambers or the FSB should be utilised to their full effect at times of crisis such as these.

It would also be useful to contact some of these organisations in order that a fuller picture be given - I suspect that the toy industry is not the only one affected by credit insurance failures, given the suspiciously empty shelves in a local chain of mini-supermarkets and also a well-known off-licence.

To all interested parties, please be aware that the Action Group is a non profit making organisation and our main goal is to provide protection from Barclays and KPMG. Members who attempt to negotiate with these companies alone will have little impact here. Collectively the members owe £6 million to Youngsters and the best chance of a discount is together as an action group. They have broken their contract with us and as such we are all in a position where supply is now difficult.

It is clear that KPMG have done their job well, they have got a buyer and will hopefully soon be able to give Youngsters members some reassurance that their is a future. That is all KPMG as receivers are supposed to do.

Despite other comments, not many places would buy a badly run company with millions of debt and a warehouse full of rubbish.

Maybe we will see the southern bias replaced by a competent and well run company - this will benefit all of us and the public.....

Well I think that all the members were shafted well and truley on Friday by Magsons and KPMG.We will have to wait and see what magsons do. But I expect not a lot for ex members of Youngsters. I wanted to hear from the other group as well !!! as many other members at the meeting did.

Frankly - the bloody thing is just PANTS!